Stereoscopic video

ABSTRACT

Methods, devices, systems and/or storage media for stereoscopic video.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is related to an application entitled “Videoand/or Audio Processing”, to inventor Thomas Algie Abrams, Jr., assignedto Microsoft Corporation, filed concurrently on Jan. 28, 2002 and havingSer. No. ______ and attorney Docket No. MS1-894US, the contents of whichare incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] This invention relates generally to methods, devices, systemsand/or storage media for video and/or audio, especially for stereoscopicvideo.

BACKGROUND

[0003] The human brain allows for depth perception through binocularstereopsis, in part, by use of range estimates from a left eyeperspective and a right eye perspective. In binocular stereopsis, aviewer's eyes register two images, a left eye image and a right eyeimage, which are transmitted to the brain for processing. The brain thenprocesses the images to perceive a three-dimensional stereo image. Onegoal of computer vision and/or computer presentation is to provide aviewer with same or similar perception.

[0004] In general, a single computer displayed image cannot effectivelyprovide a viewer with three-dimensional stereo image perception;instead, at least two images must be displayed, e.g., one for each eye.Ultimately, each displayed image should be of a high quality and in astorable and/or a streamable format. However, even in non-stereoscopicvideo a downward progression exists wherein the resolution, and hencequality, of content distributed to a viewer is much less than that ofthe original content. For example, a professional digital video cameramay acquire image data at a resolution of 1280 pixel by 720 lines, aframe rate of 24 frames per second (fps) and a color depth of 24 bits.The acquisition rate for such content is approximately 530 million bitsper second (Mbps); thus, two hours of filming corresponds to almost 4trillion bits of data (Tb). For viewing, this content must bedistributed at approximately 530 Mbps or downloaded as a file having asize of approximately 4 Tb. For stereoscopic viewing, using a schemethat requires video content for a left eye and video content for a righteye, the requirements typically double: an overall bit rate ofapproximately 1.6 billion bits per second (Gbps) and an overall filesize of approximately 8 Tb. At present, bandwidths and recording mediacommonly used for commercial distribution of digital content cannothandle such requirements. Thus, re-sampling and/or compression need tobe applied to reduce the bit rate and/or file size.

[0005] Perhaps the most widely used method of compression is specifiedin the MPEG-2 standard. Products such as digital television (DTV) settop boxes and DVDs are based on the MPEG-2 standard. As an example,consider a DVD player with a single sided DVD disk that can storeapproximately 38 Gb. To fit the aforementioned 2 hours of video ontothis disk, consider first, a re-sampling process that downgrades thevideo quality to a format having a resolution of 720 pixel by 486 line,a frame rate of approximately 24 fps and a color depth of 16 bits. Now,instead of a bit rate of 530 Mbps and a file size of 4 Tb, the contenthas a bit rate of approximately 130 Mbps and a file size ofapproximately 1 Tb. However, for stereoscopic viewing, using a schemethat requires video content for a left eye and video content for a righteye, the requirements typically double: an overall bit rate ofapproximately 260 Mbps and an overall file size of approximately 2 Tb.To fit this 2 Tb of content on a 38 Gb single sided DVD disk, acompression ratio of approximately 60:1 is required. When storage ofaudio and sub-titles is desired, an even higher compression ratio, forexample, of approximately 70:1, is required. In addition, to decode andplayback the 38 Gb of compressed content in 2 hours, an average bit rateof approximately 5 Mbps is required.

[0006] In general, MPEG-2 compression ratios are typically confined tosomewhere between approximately 8:1 and approximately 30:1, which somehave referred to as the MPEG-2 compression “sweet spot”. Further, withMPEG-2, transparency (i.e., no noticeable discrepancies between sourcevideo and reconstructed video) occurs only for conservative compressionratios, for example, between approximately 8:1 and approximately 12:1.Of course, such conservative compression ratios are inadequate to allowfor storage of the aforementioned 260 Mbps, 2 hour stereoscopic video ona DVD disk. Thus, to achieve a high degree of transparency, sourcecontent is often pre-processed (e.g., re-sampled) prior to MPEG-2compression or lower resolution source content is used, for example, 352pixel by 480 lines at a frame rate of 24 fps and a color depth of 16bits (a rate of approximately 64 Mbps). Two hours of such lowerresolution content (a file size of approximately 450 Gb) requires acompression ratio of approximately 12:1 to fit a single sided 38 Gb DVDdisk. However, for stereoscopic viewing, using a scheme that requiresvideo content for a left eye and video content for a right eye, therequirements typically double: an overall bit rate of approximately 130Mbps and an overall file size of approximately 900 Gb; thus, acompression ratio of approximately 24:1 is required to fit thisstereoscopic content on a 38 Gb DVD disk.

[0007] In practice, for a variety of reasons, MPEG-2 compression ratiosare typically around 30:1. For example, a reported MPEG-2 rate-based“sweet spot” specifies a bit rate of 2 Mbps for 352 pixel by 480 lineand 24 fps content, which reportedly produces an almost NTSC broadcastquality result that is also a “good” substitute for VHS. To achieve a 2Mbps rate for the 352 pixel by 480 line and 24 fps content requires acompression ratio of approximately 30:1, which again, is outside theconservative compression range. Thus, most commercial applications thatrely on MPEG-2 for video have some degree of quality degradation and/orquality limitations. Further, to achieve a 2 Mbps rate for stereoscopicvideo, using a scheme that requires video content for a left eye andvideo content for a right eye, a compression ratio of approximately 60:1is required, which is outside specifications of the reported almost NTSCbroadcast quality result that is also a “good” substitute for VHS.

[0008] One way to increase video quality involves maintaining a higherresolution (e.g., maintaining more pixels). Another way to increasevideo quality involves use of better compression algorithms, forexample, algorithms that maintain subjective transparency forcompression ratios greater than approximately 12:1 and/or achieve VHSquality at compression ratios greater than 30:1. Of course, acombination of both higher resolution and better compression algorithmscan be expected to produce the greatest increase in video quality. Forexample, for an exemplary stereoscopic display scheme that relies onvideo content for a left eye and video content for a right eye, it wouldbe desirable to maintain as much of the 1280 pixel by 720 lineresolution of the aforementioned digital video as possible, if not allof such content (or even higher resolution content); it would also bedesirable to fit such content onto a single sided DVD disk or otherdisk. In addition, it would be desirable to transmit such content in adata stream. Technologies for accomplishing such tasks, as well as othertasks, are presented below.

SUMMARY

[0009] Various technologies are described herein that pertain generallyto digital video, and, in particular, to stereoscopic video. Many ofthese technologies can lessen and/or eliminate the need for a downwardprogression in video quality. Other technologies allow for new mannersof distribution and/or display of stereoscopic video. In general,various technologies described herein allow for compression, storage,transmission and/or display of stereoscopic video having a resolutionof, for example, greater than approximately 352 pixel by approximately480 line. In addition, various technologies described herein can provideDVD quality.

[0010] An exemplary method for displaying stereoscopic video includesreceiving and/or requesting compressed left eye digital video data andcompressed right eye digital video data; decompressing the compressedleft eye digital video data and the compressed right eye digital videodata to produce decompressed left eye digital video data anddecompressed right eye digital video data; and displaying alternately ona display device the decompressed left eye digital video data and thedecompressed right eye digital video data. Another exemplary method forproducing stereoscopic video includes receiving and/or requesting lefteye digital video data and right eye digital video data; compressing theleft eye digital video data and the right eye digital video data toproduce compressed left eye digital video data and compressed right eyedigital video data; and transmitting and/or storing the compressed lefteye digital video data and the compressed right eye digital video data.Yet other method, devices, systems and/or storage media are furtherdescribed herein.

[0011] Additional features and advantages of the exemplary methods,devices, systems and/or media described herein will be made apparentfrom the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments,which proceeds with reference to the accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] A more complete understanding of the various methods andarrangements described herein, and equivalents thereof, may be had byreference to the following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0013]FIG. 1 is a block diagram generally illustrating an exemplarycomputer system on which the exemplary methods and exemplary systemsdescribed herein may be implemented.

[0014]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method forconverting stereoscopic film images to streamable and/or storabledigital data.

[0015]FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method forconverting information to a particular format using video and/or audiocodecs.

[0016]FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary process forcompression and decompression of image data.

[0017]FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method forproducing stereoscopic video data.

[0018]FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary electroniccamera or digital camera method for producing stereoscopic video data.

[0019]FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method forproducing a stream and/or file.

[0020]FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary device and/orsystem for digital storage and/or structuring.

[0021]FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method forprocessing video data.

[0022]FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method forprocessing video data.

[0023]FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method fordisplaying stereoscopic video using two players.

[0024]FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method fordisplaying stereoscopic video using one player.

[0025]FIG. 13 is a graph of video data rate in Gbps versus processorspeed in GHz for a computer having a single processor.

[0026]FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method forencoding and decoding stereoscopic video data.

[0027]FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method fordisplaying stereoscopic video and/or audio data from an I/O device.

[0028]FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method fordisplaying stereoscopic video and/or audio data from a computer.

[0029]FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method fordisplaying video from a decoded stream and/or file.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] Turning to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer tolike elements, various methods are illustrated as being implemented in asuitable computing environment. Although not required, the methods willbe described in the general context of computer-executable instructions,such as program modules, being executed by a personal computer.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in theart will appreciate that the methods and converters may be practicedwith other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices,multi-processor systems, microprocessor based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and thelike. The methods may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

[0031] In some diagrams herein, various algorithmic acts are summarizedin individual “blocks”. Such blocks describe specific actions ordecisions that are made or carried out as the process proceeds. Where amicrocontroller (or equivalent) is employed, the flow charts presentedherein provide a basis for a “control program” or software/firmware thatmay be used by such a microcontroller (or equivalent) to effectuate thedesired control of the stimulation device. As such, the processes areimplemented as machine-readable instructions stored in memory that, whenexecuted by a processor, perform the various acts illustrated as blocks.

[0032] Those skilled in the art may readily write such a control programbased on the flow charts and other descriptions presented herein. It isto be understood and appreciated that the inventive subject matterdescribed herein includes not only stimulation devices when programmedto perform the acts described below, but the software that is configuredto program the microcontrollers and, additionally, any and allcomputer-readable media on which such software might be embodied.Examples of such computer-readable media include, without limitation,floppy disks, hard disks, CDs, RAM, ROM, flash memory and the like.

[0033]FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a suitable computing environment120 on which the subsequently described exemplary methods may beimplemented.

[0034] Exemplary computing environment 120 is only one example of asuitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest anylimitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the improvedmethods and arrangements described herein. Neither should computingenvironment 120 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirementrelating to any one or combination of components illustrated incomputing environment 120.

[0035] The methods and arrangements herein are operational with numerousother general purpose or special purpose computing system environmentsor configurations. Examples of well known computing systems,environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable include, butare not limited to, personal computers, server computers, thin clients,thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include any of the above systemsor devices, and the like.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 1, computing environment 120 includes ageneral-purpose computing device in the form of a computer 130. Thecomponents of computer 130 may include one or more processors orprocessing units 132, a system memory 134, and a bus 136 that couplesvarious system components including system memory 134 to processor 132.

[0037] Bus 136 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus also known as Mezzaninebus.

[0038] Computer 130 typically includes a variety of computer readablemedia. Such media may be any available media that is accessible bycomputer 130, and it includes both volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media.

[0039] In FIG. 1, system memory 134 includes computer readable media inthe form of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 140,and/or non-volatile memory, such as read only memory (ROM) 138. A basicinput/output system (BIOS) 142, containing the basic routines that helpto transfer information between elements within computer 130, such asduring start-up, is stored in ROM 138. RAM 140 typically contains dataand/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/orpresently being operated on by processor 132.

[0040] Computer 130 may further include other removable/non-removable,volatile/non-volatile computer storage media. For example, FIG. 1illustrates a hard disk drive 144 for reading from and writing to anon-removable, non-volatile magnetic media (not shown and typicallycalled a “hard drive”), a magnetic disk drive 146 for reading from andwriting to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk 148 (e.g., a “floppydisk”), and an optical disk drive 150 for reading from or writing to aremovable, non-volatile optical disk 152 such as a CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW,DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM or other optical media. Hard disk drive 144, magneticdisk drive 146 and optical disk drive 150 are each connected to bus 136by one or more interfaces 154.

[0041] The drives and associated computer-readable media providenonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data for computer 130. Although the exemplaryenvironment described herein employs a hard disk, a removable magneticdisk 148 and a removable optical disk 152, it should be appreciated bythose skilled in the art that other types of computer readable mediawhich can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as magneticcassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, random accessmemories (RAMs), read only memories (ROM), and the like, may also beused in the exemplary operating environment.

[0042] A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk,magnetic disk 148, optical disk 152, ROM 138, or RAM 140, including,e.g., an operating system 158, one or more application programs 160,other program modules 162, and program data 164.

[0043] The methods and arrangements described herein may be implementedwithin operating system 158, one or more application programs 160, otherprogram modules 162, and/or program data 164.

[0044] A user may provide commands and information into computer 130through input devices such as keyboard 166 and pointing device 168 (suchas a “mouse”). Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone,joystick, game pad, satellite dish, serial port, scanner, camera, etc.These and other input devices are connected to the processing unit 132through a user input interface 170 that is coupled to bus 136, but maybe connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallelport, game port, or a universal serial bus (USB).

[0045] A monitor 172 or other type of display device is also connectedto bus 136 via an interface, such as a video adapter 174. In addition tomonitor 172, personal computers typically include other peripheraloutput devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers, which may beconnected through output peripheral interface 175.

[0046] Logical connections shown in FIG. 1 are a local area network(LAN) 177 and a general wide area network (WAN) 179. Such networkingenvironments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computernetworks, intranets, and the Internet.

[0047] When used in a LAN networking environment, computer 130 isconnected to LAN 177 via network interface or adapter 186. When used ina WAN networking environment, the computer typically includes a modem178 or other means for establishing communications over WAN 179. Modem178, which may be internal or external, may be connected to system bus136 via the user input interface 170 or other appropriate mechanism.

[0048] Depicted in FIG. 1, is a specific implementation of a WAN via theInternet. Here, computer 130 employs modem 178 to establishcommunications with at least one remote computer 182 via the Internet180.

[0049] In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative tocomputer 130, or portions thereof, may be stored in a remote memorystorage device. Thus, e.g., as depicted in FIG. 1, remote applicationprograms 189 may reside on a memory device of remote computer 182. Itwill be appreciated that the network connections shown and described areexemplary and other means of establishing a communications link betweenthe computers may be used.

[0050] Overview

[0051] Various technologies are described herein that pertain generallyto digital video and, in particular, to stereoscopic video. Many ofthese technologies can lessen and/or eliminate the need for a downwardprogression in video quality. Other technologies allow for new mannersof distribution and/or display of digital video, and in particular,stereoscopic video. As discussed in further detail below, suchtechnologies include, but are not limited to: exemplary methods forproducing a digital video stream and/or a digital video file; exemplarymethods for producing a transportable storage medium containing digitalvideo, in particular, stereoscopic video; exemplary methods fordisplaying digital video according to a stereoscopic display scheme;exemplary devices and/or systems for producing a digital video streamand/or a digital video file; exemplary devices and/or systems forstoring digital video on a transportable storage medium; exemplarydevices and/or systems for displaying digital video according to astereoscopic video display scheme; and exemplary storage media forstoring digital video.

[0052] Various exemplary methods, devices, systems, and/or storage mediaare described with reference to front-end, intermediate, back-end,and/or front-to-back processes and/or systems. While specific examplesof commercially available hardware, software and/or media are oftengiven throughout the description below in presenting front-end,intermediate, back-end and/or front-to-back processes and/or systems,the exemplary methods, devices, systems and/or storage media, are notlimited to such commercially available items.

[0053] Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of an exemplary stereoscopicmethod 200 is shown. This exemplary method 200 is suitable for producinga stereoscopic display of images using a variety of technologies, someof which are described herein. Such technologies include, but are notlimited to, WINDOWS MEDIA™ technologies. Various procedures in thestereoscopic method 200 typically account for display schemecharacteristics. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a display block 270includes a display and eyewear that perform according to a suitabledisplay scheme. A priori knowledge of the display scheme can enhancequality and/or facilitate production of stereoscopic images.

[0054] Stereoscopic 3D video display schemes can provide significantbenefits in many areas, including entertainment, endoscopy and othermedical imaging, remote-control vehicles and telemanipulators, games,stereo 3D CAD, molecular modeling, 3D computer graphics, 3Dvisualization, and video-based training. Stereoscopic, or stereo,viewing allows a viewer to perceive a depth dimension in imagesprojected on a two-dimensional display device. In general, differentviews of a scene are presented to each eye wherein the views differ by,for example, a viewing offset that approximates the viewing angledifference between a viewer's left and right eyes when looking at, forexample, a natural scene. A variety of exemplary stereoscopic displaysschemes are presented below which are primarily used with a singledisplay device. These and/or other exemplary schemes optionally use morethan one display device to allow a viewer (or viewers) to perceive a 3Dimage.

[0055] For a viewer to perceive a 3D image through use of stereoscopicimages on a display (or displays), each eye should see predominantly oneimage. One common way to present an image to each eye involvesalternately displaying a left eye image and a right eye image whilehaving the viewer wear a device that alternately blocks each eyesynchronously with the display of the images. One such wearable device(or eyewear) is the CRYSTALEYES® device (StereoGraphics Corporation, SanRafael, Calif.), which includes synchronizing goggles that are driven byan infrared emitter box that connects to a special computer port. TheCRYSTALEYES® device uses a stereo synchronization signal that is sentfrom a graphics display system to an emitter box, which sends aninfrared signal to the goggles. This signal indicates whether the leftor right eye image is being displayed so that the goggles cansynchronize the opacity of eye lenses with the display. In general,alternating image display systems redraw at a high rate, so a viewerperceives left and right images nearly simultaneously. Commonnon-limiting exemplary rates are approximately 96 or approximately 120fields per second (e.g., Hz) and usually depend on the stereo displayscheme used.

[0056] Two common stereo display schemes are quad-buffered display (alsoknown as stereo-in-a-window or stereo-ready) and full-screen display(also known as divided-screen, split-screen, or old-style). Infull-screen stereo display, a display is divided into left eye portionand right eye portion. For example, a display may be divided into a tophalf and a bottom half (above-and-below display scheme) or a right halfand a left half (side-by-side display scheme). In a top half and abottom half display scheme half of the display's vertical resolution andthe display's fall horizontal resolution are used for each image. Forexample, each image may have an image resolution format of 1280 pixelshorizontal by 492 lines vertical for an overall image resolution formatof 1280 pixel by approximately 1024 lines. In this example, left eyeimages are typically rendered in lines 0 to 491 and the right eye imagesare typically rendered in lines 532 to 1023 or 512 to 1003. In suchdisplay schemes, one dimension of an image may be displayed atapproximately twice its original dimension. For example, a typical 1280pixel by 1024 line display produces a ratio of horizontal to verticalpixels of about 1.3:1; thus, in the above-and-below display scheme forthis resolution, the ratio of horizontal to vertical pixels for each eyeis approximately 2.6:1, and the result is a pixel longer than it is highby a factor of approximately two. Software and/or hardware may accountfor such a discrepancy.

[0057] Quad-buffered stereo display schemes (or stereo-ready) generallyuse left and right buffers for stereo images. Quad-buffered stereodisplay schemes require a significant amount of framebuffer resourcescompared to full-screen stereo display schemes. In a typicalquad-buffered stereo display scheme, image pixels are square (notdistorted), and left and right eye images are rendered to the same pixellocation on the display.

[0058] A typical stereo video format for a quad-buffered stereo displayscheme is 1024 pixel by 768 line with a display rate of 96 Hz and atypical format for full-screen screen stereo is 1280 pixel by 492 linewith a display rate of 120 Hz. In addition, a framebuffer may require asuitable depth (e.g., 16+16, 32+32, etc.) to enable quad-buffer stereodisplay. Such display schemes are supported by a variety of computers.For example, an exemplary commercially available SILICON GRAPHICS®OCTANE® 2 computer supports the following stereo image resolutionformats: stereo-in-a-window display resolution formats 1280 pixel by1024 line at 100 Hz and 1024 pixel by 768 line at 96 Hz; and full-screenformats 1280 pixel by 492 line at 114 Hz and 120 Hz.

[0059] Another display scheme is interlace stereo display, which usesinterlace to encode left and right images on odd and even fields. Mostinterlace stereo display schemes can use standard television sets andmonitors, standard VCRs, and inexpensive demultiplexing equipment (e.g.,a simple field switch that shunts half the fields to one eye and half tothe other by synching the shutters' eyewear to the field rate). Manyinterlace stereo display schemes result in flicker, which may bemitigated by reducing brightness of the image by adding neutral densityfilters to the eyewear.

[0060] Another problem associated with most interlace stereo displayschemes is that each eye sees half the number of lines (or pixels) whichare normally available, so the image has half the resolution. Theinterlace approach (or time-multiplexed low field rate approach) has aninteresting application when used in conjunction with a head mounteddisplay (HMD) using liquid crystal (LC) displays. Because of the longpersistence of LC displays, a low number of longer lasting fields willproduce a more or less flicker-free image. If a field switch is used toalternate fields to one and then the other LC display, the result can bea stereo image with a barely detectable flicker.

[0061] Yet another stereoscopic display scheme is white-line-code (WLC).The WLC is universal in the sense that it does not depend on field rate(refresh rate), resolution, or whether a display is in interlace scanmode or a progressive scan mode. In a WLC display scheme, white linesare added, typically on the bottom of every field for the last line ofvideo, to signify whether the displayed image is a left eye image or aright eye image. Use of the last line of video is typical because it iswithin the province of a developer to add a code in this areaimmediately before the blanking area (which is not necessarilyaccessible to a developer). When an eyewear shutter system senses awhite line, it can then trigger the eyewear shutter with, for example, avertical sync pulse.

[0062] Table 1, below, lists several exemplary formats suitable forstereoscopic display schemes. TABLE 1 Exemplary formats for stereoscopicdisplay schemes. Format Refresh rate (Hz) Medium Interlace 60 NTSCInterlace 50 PAL Side-by-side 120 NTSC Side-by-side 100 PALAbove-and-below 120 Computer Stereo-ready 120 Computer White-line-code70-90 Computer

[0063] Referring again to FIG. 2, the exemplary method 200 includes ashooting block 210. The shooting block 210 optionally includes use of astereoscopic camera or two linked and/or synchronized cameras that cancapture a right image and a left image (e.g., video for a left eye viewand video for a right eye view). In the shooting block 210, acinematographer uses a stereoscopic camera (or cameras) to film, orcapture, images, or video, on, for example, photographic film. Ingeneral, the photographic film has an industry standard format, e.g., 70mm, 35 mm, 16 mm, or 8 mm. Of course, specialized stereoscopic film mayalso be used wherein images are captured on or as adjacent frames.

[0064] Sound, or audio, recorded as an analog track and/or as a digitaltrack on magnetic recording media and/or optical recording media, mayalso accompany the video. A photographic film may include magneticrecording media and optical recording media for audio recording. Commonaudio formats for film include, but are not limited to, 6 track/channelDOLBY DIGITAL® format (Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation, SanFrancisco, Calif.) and 8 track/channel SDDS SONY DYNAMIC DIGITAL SOUND®format (Sony Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). In addition, a 6 track/channelDTS® format (Digital Theatre Systems, Inc., Westlake Village, Calif.), aCD-based format, may also accompany a film. Of course, other CD-basedsystems may be used. Editing and/or rerecording optionally occur afterfilming to produce a final film and/or a near final film having analogvideo and optionally digital audio and/or analog audio. While thedescription herein generally refers to video, it is understood thataudio may accompany video and that many formats and/or systems areequipped to handle both audio and video.

[0065] A stereoscopic camera or cameras optionally use a generatorlocking device (or genlock device) to enable locking or synchronizing oftwo or more images. In the photographic film example described above, agenlock device may record a locking or synchronizing signal on one ormore films and/or another medium. For other image capture systems, agenlock device may enable video equipment (e.g., a TV, a recorder, ananalyzer, etc.) to accept two signals simultaneously. For example, theSTEREO3D™ video system (StereoGraphics, Inc.) uses two linked cameraswhich feed video signals to a record device, which may be located nearthe cameras or at some distance. If the record device is located nearthe cameras, a single composite NTSC channel may be sent via cable orbroadcast to a remote location.

[0066] As shown in FIG. 2, in a film transfer block 220, the film istransferred to a telecine. However, in an alternative, a digital camerais used to optionally alleviate the need for analog film. A variety ofdigital cameras are commercially available, such as, but not limited to,SONY® digital cameras (Sony Corporation, Japan). Use of a digital cameracan alleviate the need for an analog-to-digital conversion and/orsubstitute for analog-to-digital conversion. Exemplary SONY® digitalcameras include, but are not limited to, the SONY™ HDW-F900 and HDW-700Adigital cameras. The SONY® HDW-F900 digital camera features HAD CCDtechnology, which combines a 3-CCD HD color digital camera, a 12-bit A/Dconverter with advanced digital signal processing to deliver imageresolution up to 1,920 pixels by 1,080 line. The SONY® HDW-700A digitalcamera is a 1080i (1080 line interlace) compliant 2 million-pixel RGBcamera utilizing 10-bit digital signal processing. In addition, SONY®HDCAM equipment is optionally used for recording and/or processing (seeblocks described below). Such equipment includes, but is not limited to,the SONY® HDW-F500 HDCAM editing VTR.

[0067] In the exemplary method 200, photographic film images aretransferred to a telecine in a film transfer block 220. Following thefilm transfer block 220, in an analog-to-digital conversion block 230, atelecine (or equivalent device) converts analog video to digital video.Commercially available telecines include CCD telecines and CRT telecinesand both types are suitable for the analog-to-digital conversion block230. Telecines having digital capable of digital resolution in excess of1920 pixels per line and/or 1080 lines are also suitable for use withvarious exemplary methods, devices and/or systems described herein.

[0068] Regarding digital video formats, Table 2, below, presents severalcommonly used digital video formats, including 1080×1920, 720×1280,480×704, and 480×640, given as number of lines by number of pixels.TABLE 2 Common Digital Video Formats Vertical Horizontal Aspect FrameRate Sequence Lines pixels Ratio s⁻¹ p or i 1080 1920 16:9 24, 30Progressive 1080 1920 16:9 30, 60 Interlaced 720 1280 16:9 24, 30, 60Progressive 480 704 4:3 or 16:9 24, 30, 60 Progressive 480 704 4:3 or16:9 30 Interlaced 480 640 4:3 24, 30, 60 Progressive 480 640 4:3 30Interlaced

[0069] Regarding high definition television (HDTV), such formats include1,125 line, 1,080 line and 1,035 line interlace and 720 line and 1,080line progressive formats in a 16:9 aspect ratio. According to some, aformat is high definition if it has at least twice the horizontal andvertical resolution of the standard signal being used. There is a debateas to whether 480 line progressive is also “high definition”; itprovides better resolution than 480 line interlace, making it at leastan enhanced definition format. Various exemplary methods, devicessystems, and/or storage media presented herein cover such formats and/orother formats.

[0070] In the analog-to-digital conversion block 230, the conversiondevice (e.g., telecine) outputs digital data in a suitable digitalformat, optionally according to a suitable standard for digital datatransmission. While a variety of transmission standards exist, anexemplary suitable standard for digital data transmission is the Societyof Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) 292 standard(“Bit-Serial Digital Interface for High-Definition Television Systems”),which is typically associated with high definition systems (e.g., HDTV).In particular, the serial digital interface standard, SMPTE 292M,defines a universal medium of interchange for uncompressed digital databetween various types of video equipment (camera's, encoders, VTRs, . .. ) at data rates of approximately 1.5 Gbps. Another exemplary suitablestandard is the SMPTE 259M standard (“10-Bit 4:2:2 Component and 4fscComposite Digital Signals—Serial Digital Interface”), which is typicallyassociated with standard definition systems (e.g., SDTV). The SMPTE 259Mstandard includes a data transmission rate of approximately 0.27 Gbps.Suitable source formats for use with the SMPTE serial digital interfacestandards may include, but are not limited to, SMPTE 260M, 295M, 274Mand 296M. Such formats may include a 10-bit YCbCr color spacespecification and a 4:2:2 sampling format and/or other color spacespecifications and/or sampling formats such as, for example, thosedescribed below. The various exemplary methods, devices, systems and/orstorage media disclosed herein and equivalents thereof are not limitedto the specifically mentioned SMPTE standards as other standards existand/or are being created by organization such as the SMPTE. In addition,use of a non-standard transmission specification is also possible.

[0071] In general, digital video data typically has an 8-bit word and/or10-bit word (also know as bits per sample) and a color spacespecification usually having an associated sampling format; this oftenresults in an overall bits per pixel (or bit depth) of, for example,approximately 8, 16, 20, 24, 30 and 32. Of course, other word sizes andbit depths may exist and be suitable for use with various exemplarymethods, devices, systems and/or storage media described herein. Avariety of color space specifications also exist, including RGB, “Y,B-Y, R-Y”, YUV, YPbPr and YCbCr. These are typically divided into analogand digital specifications, for example, YCbCr is associated withdigital specifications (e.g., CCIR 601 and 656) while YPbPr isassociated with analog specifications (e.g., EIA-770.2-a, CCIR 709,SMPTE 240M, etc.). The YCbCr color space specification has beendescribed generally as a digitized version of the analog YUV and YPbPrcolor space specifications; however, others note that CbCr isdistinguished from PbPr because in the latter the luma and chromaexcursions are identical while in the former they are not. The CCIR 601recommendation specifies an YCbCr color space with a 4:2:2 samplingformat for two-to-one horizontal subsampling of Cb and Cr, to achieveapproximately ⅔ the data rate of a typical RGB color spacespecification. In addition, the CCIR 601 recommendation also specifiesthat: 4:2:2 means 2:1 horizontal downsampling, no vertical downsampling(4 Y samples for every 2 Cb and 2 Cr samples in a scanline); 4:1:1typically means 4:1 horizontal downsampling, no vertical downsampling (4Y samples for every 1 Cb and 1 Cr samples in a scanline); and 4:2:0means 2:1 horizontal and 2:1 vertical downsampling (4 Y samples forevery Cb and Cr samples in a scanline.). The CCIR 709 recommendationincludes an YPbPr color space for analog HDTV signals while the YUVcolor space specification is typically used as a scaled color space incomposite NTSC, PAL or S-Video. Overall, color spaces such as YPbPr,YCbCr, PhotoYCC and YUV are mostly scaled versions of “Y, B-Y, R-Y” thatplace extrema of color difference channels at more convenient values. Asan example, the digital data output from the analog-to-digitalconversion block 230 optionally includes a 1080 line resolution format,a YCbCr color space specification, and is transmittable according to theSMPTE 292M standard. Of course, a variety of other resolution formats,color space specifications and/or transmission standards may be used. Ingeneral, a resolution, a frame rate, and a color space specificationtogether with a sampling format will determine an overall bit rate.

[0072] Table 3 below lists a variety of video standards and associatedbit rates. TABLE 3 Exemplary video formats and associated information.Approx. Format Pixels/line Lines/frame Pixels/frame fps Mps Bits/pixelGbps SVGA 800 600   480,000 72 34.6 8 0.27 NTSC 640 480   307,200 30 9.2 24 0.22 PAL 580 575   333,500 50 16.7 24 0.40 SECAM 580 575  333,500 50 16.7 24 0.40 HDTV 1920 1080 2,073,600 30 62.2 24 1.5 Film*2000 1700 3,400,000 24 81.6 32 2.6

[0073] Another exemplary video standard not included in Table 3 is forvideo having a resolution of 1920 pixel by 1080 line, a frame rate of 24fps, a 10-bit word and RGB color space with 4:2:2 sampling. Such videohas on average 30 bits per pixel and an overall bit rate ofapproximately 1.5 Gbps. Yet another exemplary video standard notincluded in Table 2 is for video having a resolution of 1280 pixel by720 line, a frame rate of 24 fps, a 10-bit word and a YCbCr color spacewith 4:2:2 sampling. Such video has on average 20 bits per pixel and anoverall bit rate of approximately 0.44 Gbps. Note that a technique(known as 3:2 pulldown) may be used to convert 24 frames per second filmto 30 frames per second video. According to this technique, every otherfilm frame is held for 3 video fields resulting in a sequence of 3fields, 2 fields, 3 fields, 2 fields, etc. Such a technique isoptionally used in the analog-to-digital conversion block 230 or otherblocks.

[0074] As shown in FIG. 2, digital data output from theanalog-to-digital conversion block 230 are input to a digital recordingblock 240. The digital data output from the analog-to-digital conversionblock 230 optionally includes left digital video data, right digitalvideo data and/or left digital video data and right digital video data.According to the exemplary method 200, the digital recording block 240,while shown in FIG. 2, is optional. Alternatively, the digital dataouput from the analog-to-digital conversion block 230 are input directlyto a computer or device (e.g., see device 810 of FIG. 8). The digitaldata is input to a computer or device as a single signal and/or as twosignals, optionally via two inputs. In general, such a computer ordevice also includes storage capabilities. Referring again to FIG. 2, inthe digital recording block 240, a recorder records digital data thatincludes video data, and optionally audio data, to a recording medium ormedia. For example, suitable recorders include, but are not limited to,tape-based and/or disk-based recorders. Exemplary non-limitingtape-based recorders include the Panasonic AJ-HD3700 D-5 HD multi-formatrecording system and the Philips DCR 6024 HDTV Digital Video TapeRecorder (also known as the Voodoo Media Recorder). Both of thesecommercially available recorders accept digital serial input accordingto the SMPTE 259M and/or SMPTE 292M transmission standards. Further,both recorders can preserve 1920 pixel×1080 line resolution.

[0075] The Panasonic AJ-HD3700 D-5 HD is a mastering-quality DTV/HDTVvideotape recorder capable of performing mastering, high-definitioncinema, television commercial and multi-format DTV and HDTV programproduction tasks. The AJ-HD3700 recorder can support standard definitionand multiple high-definition video formats without hardware or softwareexchange, play back existing 525 line standard D-5 or D-5 HD cassettesand can record 10-bit uncompressed 480/60i standard-definition videowith pre-read, in addition to 1080/24p/25p, 1080/60i, 1080/50i, and720/60p high-definition standards. In addition the recorder can slewbetween 24 and 25 Hz frame rates for international (PAL) programduplication from a 1080/24p master. Both analog audio I/O and metadatarecording and playback are supported as standard features. The D-5standard is a 10-bit 4:2:2 non-compressed component digital videorecorder and suitable for high-end post production as well as moregeneral studio use. The D-5 HD standard (or HD D5 standard) provides foruse of a compression algorithm to achieve about 4:1 lossless compressionwhich may be suitable or acceptable for HDTV recordings.

[0076] The Philips Voodoo recorder can record a variety of formats,including HDTV (or DTV) 4:2:2 YCrCb sampled formats (e.g., 1920pixels×1080 lines from 24p to 60i) without using any compression (24p is24 fps progressive while 60i is 60 fps interlaced). The Philips Voodoorecorder is primarily based on the D6 recording format, which is adigital tape format that uses a 19 mm helical-scan cassette tape torecord uncompressed high definition television material at 1.88 Gbps.The D6 standard includes SMPTE 277M and 278M standards and accepts boththe European 1250/50 interlaced format and the Japanese 260M version ofthe 1125/60 interlaced format which uses 1035 active lines.

[0077] Other suitable devices suitable for use in the recording block240 are marketed and/or sold under the mark ÀCCOM® (Àccom, Inc., MenloPark, Calif.). For example, the ÀCCOM® WSD®/HD device can record highdefinition and/or standard definition video on to storage disks (e.g.,using SCSI disk drives). Such devices are sometimes referred to asdigital disk recorder (DDR) devices; thus, some DDR devices may besuitable for use as a recorder. The ÀCCOM® WSD®/HD device can recorduncompressed high definition video using a 10-bit 4:2:2 color format; itsupports full 10-bit uncompressed I/O and storage of ITU-R BT.601-4(CCIR 601) standard definition formats and 720 line and 1080 line highdefinition formats. The ÀCCOM® WSD®/HD device can also use WINDOWS® filesystems (e.g., NT® file system, 2000® file system, etc.) and/or theQUICKTIME® file format (Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, Calif.) forstorage of video data. The ÀCCOM® WSD®/HD device optionally uses theQUICKTIME® file format as a native format for data storage. TheQUICKTIME® file format includes two basic structures for storinginformation: classic atoms and QT atoms. Both classic atoms, which aresimple atoms, and QT atoms, which are atom container atoms, allow forconstruction of arbitrarily complex hierarchical data structures. Atomsconsist of a header, followed by atom data. An atom's header containsthe atom's size and type fields, giving the size of the atom in bytesand its type. Because of the limitations of the classic atom structure,which require knowledge of offsets in to move through the atom tree, QTatoms are used which have an enhanced data structure that provide a moregeneral-purpose storage format and remove some of the ambiguities thatarise when using simple atoms. The QUICKTIME® file format supportsstorage of uncompressed (e.g., YCbCr or “YV” 4:2:2, RGB, etc.) andcompressed (JPEG, MPEG, etc.) video data. Of course, the recording block240 is not limited to recorders that store data in a QUICKTIME® format.Another suitable, but non-limiting format is the WINDOWS MEDIA™ format,in addition, other formats may be suitable. Of course, a format mayinclude compressed and/or uncompressed video data and/or other data.

[0078] As with the aforementioned exemplary non-limiting recorders, theÀCCOM® WSD®/HD device can input and/or output digital video using aserial digital interface according to SMPTE standards (e.g., 259 M,292M). For example, using the SMPTE 292M specification, the ÀCCOM®WSD®/HD device can input and/or output 10-bit high definition video atapproximately 1.5 Gbps. The ÀCCOM® WSD®/HD device also has audio storageoptions wherein various formats support both video and audio. Disk-basedstorage options include Medea Corporation (Westlake Village, Calif.) 78gigabyte (GB) VideoRAID/RT, e.g., for standard definition storage, and aplurality of VideoRAID/RTs, e.g., for high definition storage, whereincapacities can range from approximately 78 GB to over 10 terabyte (TB).As discussed in the background section, the 1280 pixel by 720 line 2hour video required a file size of approximately 4 Tb, which isapproximately 0.5 TB; hence recorders, whether tape-based and/ordisk-based, should have sufficient storage capabilities. The ÀCCOM®WSD®/HD device supports gigabit Ethernet and/or WINDOWS® networking(e.g., WINDOWS® 2000® networking). According to the exemplary method200, a recorder, which is optional, optionally includes a networkinterface, such as, Ethernet, WINDOWS® and/or other interface.

[0079] Yet other exemplary, non-limiting devices suitable for use in thedigital recording block 240 include devices manufactured and/or sold byPost Impressions, Inc. (Culver City, Calif.) under the mark “spiRINT”.The spiRINT diskstation device includes SDRAM (e.g., 1 GB), an input forSMPTE 292 transmission video, and arrays of storage disks (e.g., 3.2TB). The spiRINT device may also run WINDOWS® operating systems (e.g.,NT®, 2000®, etc.). The spiRINT device can input and/or output digitalvideo using a serial digital interface according to SMPTE standards(e.g., 259 M, 292M). For example, using the SMPTE 292M specification,the spiRINT device can output 10-bit high definition video atapproximately 1.5 Gbps. Use of devices having some or all of suchfeatures (e.g., features of Àccom, Post Impressions, etc.) is describedherein with respect to a variety of exemplary methods, devices, systemsand/or storage media.

[0080] Referring again to FIG. 2, once the video data from the telecinehas been recorded, the recorded video data are converted to anotherdigital format in a digital-to-digital conversion block 250. In yetother exemplary methods described herein, however, a recorder optionallyperforms a digital-to-digital conversion. As shown in FIG. 2, a computeris configured to perform the digital-to-digital conversion. In general,the recorded digital video data are transmitted to the computer using adigital serial interface. . Of course, transmission through othermethods may be used, for example, through a disk-based interface thatallows for transfer of data from a recorder's disk to a computer. In yetanother exemplary method, the recording block 240 of the exemplarymethod 200 is bypassed and an analog-to-digital conversion block inputs“unrecorded” digital data from the telecine (or the recorder) to thecomputer for further digital-to-digital conversion. In this alternative,for example, a telecine may transmit digital data to a computer using adigital serial interface that optionally complies with the SMPTE 292Mstandard or other standard. Of course, in various exemplary methods,audio data may also accompany the video data.

[0081] According to the exemplary method 200, a digital-to-digitalconversion optionally involves converting some or all of the digitalvideo data to a group or a series of individual or stereoscopicallypaired digital image files on a frame-by-frame and/or other suitablebasis. Of course, in an alternative, not every frame is converted.According to an exemplary digital-to-digital conversion, the conversionprocess converts a frame of digital video data to a digital image fileand/or frames of digital video data to a digital video file. Suitabledigital image file formats include, but are not limited to, the tagimage file format (TIFF), which is a common format for exchanging rastergraphics (bitmap) images between application programs. The TIFF formatis capable of describing bilevel, grayscale, palette-color, andfull-color image data in several color spaces. The TIFF specificationincludes a number of compression schemes such as LZW compression, JointPhotographic Experts Group (JPEG) compression, and compression schemesspecified by the International Telegraph and Telephone ConsultativeCommittee (CCITT) (e.g., Group 3 and Group 4 schemes).

[0082] Regarding compression, algorithmic processes for compressiongenerally fall into two categories: lossy and lossless. For example,algorithms based on the discrete cosine transform (DCT) are lossywhereas lossless algorithms are not DCT-based. A baseline JPEG lossyprocess, which is typical of many DCT-based processes, involves encodingby: (i) dividing each component of an input image into 8×8 blocks; (ii)performing a two-dimensional DCT on each block; (iii) quantizing eachDCT coefficient uniformly; (iv) subtracting the quantized DC coefficientfrom the corresponding term in the previous block; and (v) entropycoding the quantized coefficients using variable length codes (VLCs).Decoding is performed by inverting each of the encoder operations in thereverse order. For example, decoding involves: (i) entropy decoding;(ii) performing a 1-D DC prediction; (iii) performing an inversequantization; (iv) performing an inverse DCT transform on 8×8 blocks;and (v) reconstructing the image based on the 8×8 blocks. While theprocess is not limited to 8×8 blocks, square blocks of dimension2^(n)×2^(n), where “n” is an integer, are preferred. A particular JPEGlossless coding process uses a spatial-prediction algorithm based on atwo-dimensional differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) technique. TheTIFF format supports a lossless Huffman coding process.

[0083] The TIFF specification also includes YCrCb, CMYK, RGB, CIE L*a*b*image definitions. Data for a single image may be striped or tiled. Acombination of strip-orientated and tile-orientated image data, whilepotentially possible, is not recommended by the TIFF specification. Ingeneral, a high resolution image can be accessed more efficiently—andcompression tends to work better—if the image is broken into roughlysquare tiles instead of horizontally-wide but vertically-narrow strips.Data for multiple images may also be tiled and/or striped in a TIFFformat; thus, a single TIFF format file may contain data for a pluralityof images. In particular, a single TIFF format file may contain data fora stereoscopic pair of images.

[0084] Referring again to FIG. 2, the computer used in thedigital-to-digital conversion block 250 optionally comprises a computerhaving video processing software. The computer of conversion block 250can be any suitable computer (computing device). Exemplary non-limitingcomputers include a SILICON GRAPHICS® O2+™ computer (Silicon Graphics,Inc., Mountain View, Calif.), a SILICON GRAPHICS® O2® computer, aSILICON GRAPHICS™ ONYX® computer, a SILICON GRAPHICS® 3000® computer, aSILICON GRAPHICS® Octane2™ computer or an equivalent thereof. Thecomputer of block 250 optionally includes a graphics system. Suitableexemplary, non-limiting graphics systems include the InfiniteReality™(e.g., IR2, IR3) graphics systems (Silicon Graphics, Inc.) andequivalents thereof. An exemplary graphic system optionally has multipleprocessor capability, e.g., consider the IR2 and IR3 graphics systems.

[0085] The computer of block 250 optionally comprises software such as,but not limited to, INFERNO® software (Discreet, Montreal, Quebec,Canada), and equivalents thereof. INFERNO® software is suitable for usewith film, digital cinema, HDTV/DTV, high-resolution video tasks. Incombination with a IR3 graphics system, a SILICON GRAPHICS® computer,and/or a SILICON GRAPHICS® video input/output (e.g., DMediaPro™ videoinput/output), INFERNO® software offers an environment forhigh-resolution (e.g., HDTV resolution) and feature film visual effectswork including real-time 2K film playback and 12-bit support and inputand/or output of both standard (e.g., SMPTE 259M standard) andhigh-definition (e.g., SMPTE 292M standard) video data. Similarly,FLAME® software on a SILICON GRAPHICS® computer (e.g., OCTANE®2),including serial digital I/O support for high-definition video, offersrealtime HDTV I/O for most all popular HDTV formats including 720P,1080i and 1080/24p. The SILICON GRAPHICS® DMediaPro™ video input/outputdevices support 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 YCrCb video sampling with 8 or 10 bitsper component; 4:4:4 RGB video sampling with 8 or 10 bits per component;and full sample rate for alpha channel at 8 or 10 bits.

[0086] Other systems suitable for use in the digital-to-digitalconversion block 250 include, but are not limited to, systems previouslymentioned that are manufactured and/or sold by Àccom, Inc. and/or PostImpressions, Inc. The spiRINT device of Post Impressions uses a“real-time” operating system (OS) embedded below a WINDOWS® NT® OS andhas a high bandwidth low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) bushaving dynamically switched bus architecture. The “real-time” OSincludes a multi-format multi-resolution file system that enables filesof any resolution and format to co-exist on the media storage and yetappear transparent to the NT® OS file system (NTFS). The WSD®/HD deviceof Àccom has an OS independent control interface that allows for devicecontrol from essentially any workstation via, for example, a networkconnection. Alternatively, the control interface is accessed and rundirectly on the device, for example, with the aid of a monitor (e.g., adisplay panel, etc.). The Àccom and Post Impressions devices can input1.5 Gbps of HD format video data using a SMPTE 292M standard serialdigital interface or 0.27 Gbps of SD format video data using a SMPTE259M standard serial digital interface. Thus, such devices may interfacea telecine and/or a recorder and/or, as mentioned previously, operate asa recorder. Use of such devices is further described in accordance withvarious exemplary methods, devices, systems and/or storage media thatfollow.

[0087] As already mentioned, in the digital-to-digital conversion block250, software and a computer convert digital video data to a digitalimage file(s) or digital video file(s). Sometimes, such a process isreferred to as “capture”, wherein images are captured from digital videodata—in either instance, a digital-to-digital conversion occurs.According to the exemplary method 200, digital video data from thetelecine and/or the recorder may be compressed and/or uncompressed. Thedigital-to-digital conversion is optionally performed on aframe-by-frame basis, wherein each frame of digital video datatransmitted from a telecine or a recorder is converted to a digitalimage file. Furthermore, a one-to-one correspondence is optionallymaintained between each original analog (or digital) frame and a digitalimage file. However, a 3:2 pulldown or other type of pulldown or editingis also possible. A digital video file may also maintain a one-to-onecorrespondence between each original frame and frames in the digitalvideo file; of course, other options also exist, such as, but notlimited to, a 3:2 pulldown.

[0088] In an exemplary, non-limiting digital-to-digital conversionprocess (see, e.g., conversion block 250), digital video data areconverted to image files, which are optionally recorded on a recordingmedium. For example, digital video data are transmitted according to theSMPTE 292M specification to a computer wherein the video data areconverted to TIFF format files on a frame-by-frame or other suitablebasis, wherein, during and/or after the conversion, the TIFF formatfiles are recorded on digital linear tape (DLT). DLT is a form ofmagnetic tape and drive system used for storage of data. A compressionalgorithm, known as Digital Lempel Ziv 1 (DLZ1), facilitates storage andretrieval of data at high speeds and in large quantities. A DLT driverecords data on a tape in dozens of straight-line (linear) tracks,usually 128 or 208. Some tape cartridges can hold 70 gigabytes (GB) ofdata when compression is used. A variant of DLT technology, calledSuperDLT, makes it possible to store upwards of 100 GB on a single tapecartridge. A SuperDLT drive can transfer data at speeds of up to 10megabytes per second (MBps). Exemplary alternative recording systemsinclude linear tape open (LTO) drives, advanced intelligent tape (AIT)drives, and Mammoth drives.

[0089] Referring again to FIG. 2, a second conversion digital-to-digitalconversion block 260 is shown. In this conversion block 260, digitaldata, e.g., produced by the conversion block 250, are converted to aformat suitable for at least one file and/or at least one data streamsuitable for execution on a computer to thereby produce a video display(e.g., a stereoscopic video display). For example, in an exemplarynon-limiting conversion block (see, e.g., conversion block 260), acomputer receives digital image files from a tape drive or anothercomputer in a TIFF format. The TIFF format files are then converted toan audio video interleaved (AVI) format file, which is suitable forfurther conversion to another format as a file(s) and/or a stream(s).For example, an exemplary, non-limiting conversion block converts a AVIformat file to a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format file and/or at least one datastream.

[0090] The AVI file format is a file format for digital video and audiofor use with WINDOWS® OSs and/or other OSs. According to the AVI format,blocks of video and audio data are interspersed together. Although anAVI format file can have “n” number of streams, the most common case isone video stream and one audio stream. The stream format headersgenerally define the format (including compression) of each stream.

[0091] AVI format files may be made in several different ways. Forexample, VIDEDIT™ software or WINDOWS® MOVIE MAKER™ software (MicrosoftCorporation) can create an AVI format file from image files. TheVIDEDIT™ software uses bitmap image files, thus, TIFF format files needto be converted first to bitmap files. Once converted, VIDEDIT™ softwareassembles the bitmap images into an AVI format file, typically in ananimation sequence. VIDEDIT™ can delete frames or add other frames orsequences. AVI format files can also be cropped or resized before beingsaved full sized or compressed. Such facilities are also provided byWINDOWS® MOVIE MAKER™ software, which can also use TIFF format files tocreate an AVI format file.

[0092] Referring again to FIG. 2, a primary function of the conversionblock 260 is to produce a file and/or at least one data stream. Such afile and/or stream may be in a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format, which is a formatcapable of use in, for example, streaming audio, video and text from aserver to a client computer. A WINDOWS MEDIA™ format file may also bestored and played locally. In general, a format may include more thanjust a file format and/or stream format specification. For example, aformat may include codecs. Consider, as an example, the WINDOWS MEDIA™format, which comprises audio and video codecs, an optional integrateddigital rights management (DRM) system, a file container, etc. Asreferred to herein, a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format file and/or WINDOWS MEDIA™format stream have characteristics of files suitable for use as aWINDOWS MEDIA™ format container file. Details of such characteristicsare described below. In general, the term “format” as used for filesand/or streams refers to characteristics of a file and/or a stream andnot necessarily characteristics of codecs, DRM, etc. Note, however, thata format for a file and/or a stream may include specifications forinclusion of information related to codec, DRM, etc.

[0093] A block diagram of an exemplary conversion process for convertinginformation to a suitable file and/or stream format 300 is shown in FIG.3. Referring to FIG. 3, in the exemplary conversion process 300, aconversion block 312 accepts information from a metadata block 304, anaudio block 306, a video block 308, and/or a script block 310. Theinformation is optionally contained in an AVI format file and/or in astream; however, the information may also be in an uncompressed WINDOWSMEDIA™ format or other suitable format. In an audio processing block 314and in a video processing block 318, the conversion block 312 performsaudio and/or video processing. Next, in an audio codec block 322 and ina video codec block 326, the conversion block 312 compresses theprocessed audio, video and/or other information and outputs thecompressed information to a file container 340. Before, during and/orafter processing and/or compression, a rights management block 330optionally imparts information to the file container block 340 whereinthe information is germane to any associated rights, e.g., copyrights,trademark rights, patent, etc., of the process or the acceptedinformation.

[0094] The file container block 340 typically stores file information ina single file and optionally in more than one file. Of course,information may be streamed in a suitable format rather thanspecifically “stored”. An exemplary, non-limiting file and/or stream hasa WINDOWS MEDIA™ format. The term “WINDOWS MEDIA™ format”, as usedthroughout, includes the active stream format and/or the advancedsystems format, which are typically specified for use as a filecontainer format. The active stream format and/or advanced systemsformat may include audio, video, metadata, index commands and/or scriptcommands (e.g., URLs, closed captioning, etc.). In general, informationstored in a WINDOWS MEDIA™ file container, will be stored in a filehaving a file extension such as .wma, .wmv, or .asf; streamedinformation may optionally use a same or a similar extension(s).

[0095] In general, a file (e.g., according to a file containerspecification) contains data for one or more streams that can form amultimedia presentation. Stream delivery is typically synchronized to acommon timeline. A file and/or stream may also include a script, e.g., acaption, a URL, and/or a custom script command. As shown in FIG. 3, theconversion process 300 uses at least one codec or compression algorithmto produce a file and/or at least one data stream. In particular, such aprocess may use a video codec or compression algorithm and/or an audiocodec or compression algorithm. Furthermore, the conversion block 260optionally supports compression and/or decompression processes that canutilize a plurality of processors, for example, to enhance compression,decompression, and/or execution speed of a file and/or a data stream.

[0096] One suitable video compression and/or decompression algorithm (orcodec) is entitled MPEG-4 v3, which was originally designed fordistribution of video over low bandwidth networks using high compressionratios (e.g., see also MPEG-4 v2 defined in ISO MPEG-4 document N3056).The MPEG-4 v3 decoder uses post processors to remove “blockiness”, whichimproves overall video quality, and supports a wide range of bit ratesfrom as low as 10 kbps (e.g., for modem users) to 10 Mbps or more.Another suitable video codec uses block-based motion predictive codingto reduce temporal redundancy and transform coding to reduce spatialredundancy.

[0097] A suitable conversion software package that uses codecs isentitled WINDOWS MEDIA™ Encoder. The WINDOWS MEDIA™ Encoder software cancompress live or stored audio and/or video content into WINDOWS MEDIA™format files and/or data streams (e.g., such as the process 300 shown inFIG. 3). This software package is also available in the form of asoftware development kit (SDK). The WINDOWS MEDIA™ Encoder SDK is one ofthe main components of the WINDOWS MEDIA™ SDK. Other components includethe WINDOWS MEDIA™ Services SDK, the WINDOWS MEDIA™ Format SDK, theWINDOWS MEDIA™ Rights Manager SDK, and the WINDOWS MEDIA™ Player SDK.

[0098] The WINDOWS MEDIA™ Encoder 7.1 software optionally uses an audiocodec entitled WINDOWS MEDIA Audio 8 (e.g., for use in the audio codecblock 322) and a video codec entitled WINDOWS MEDIA™ Video 8 codec(e.g., for use in the video codec block 326). The Video 8 codec usesblock-based motion predictive coding to reduce temporal redundancy andtransform coding to reduce spatial redundancy. Of course, later codecs,e.g., Video 9 and Audio 9, are also suitable. These aforementionedcodecs are suitable for use in real-time capture and/or streamingapplications as well as non-real-time applications, depending ondemands. In a typical application, WINDOWS MEDIA™ Encoder 7.1 softwareuses these codecs to compress data for storage and/or streaming, whileWINDOWS MEDIA™ Player software decompresses the data for playback.Often, a file or a stream compressed with a particular codec or codecsmay be decompressed or played back using any of a variety of playersoftware. In general, the player software requires knowledge of a fileor a stream compression codec.

[0099] The Audio 8 codec is capable of producing a WINDOWS MEDIA™ formataudio file of the same quality as a MPEG-1 audio layer-3 (MP3) formataudio file, but at less than approximately one-half the size. While thequality of encoded video depends on the content being encoded, for aresolution of 640 pixel by 480 line, a frame rate of 24 fps and 24 bitdepth color, the Video 8 codec is capable of producing 1:1 (real-time)encoded content in a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format using a computer having aprocessor speed of approximately 1 GHz. The same approximately 1 GHzcomputer would encode video having a resolution of 1280 pixel by 720line, a frame rate of 24 fps and 24 bit depth color in a ratio ofapproximately 6:1 and a resolution of 1920 pixel by 1080 line, a framerate of 24 fps and 24 bit depth color in a ratio of approximately 12:1(see also the graph of FIG. 13 and the accompanying description).Essentially, the encoding process in these examples is processor speedlimited. Thus, an approximately 6 GHz processor computer can encodevideo having a resolution of 1280 pixel by 720 line, a frame rate of 24fps and 24 bit depth color in real-time; likewise, an approximately 12GHz computer can encode video having a resolution of 1920 pixel by 1080line, a frame rate of 24 fps and 24 bit depth color in real-time.Overall, the Video 8 codec and functional equivalents thereof aresuitable for use in converting, streaming and/or downloading digitaldata. Of course, according to various exemplary methods, devices,systems and/or storage media described herein, video codecs other thanthe Video 8 may be used.

[0100] The WINDOWS MEDIA™ Encoder 7.1 supports single-bit-rate (orconstant) streams and/or variable-bit-rate (or multiple-bit-rate)streams. Single-bit-rates and variable-bit-rates are suitable for somereal-time capture and/or streaming of audio and video content andsupport of a variety of connection types, for example, but not limitedto, 56 Kbps over a dial-up modem and 500 Kbps over a cable modem or DSLline. Of course, other higher bandwidth connections types are alsosupported and/or supportable. Thus, support exists for video profiles(generally assuming a 24 bit color depth) such as, but not limited to,DSL/cable delivery at 250 Kbps, 320×240, 30 fps and 500 Kbps, 320×240,30 fps; LAN delivery at 100 Kbps, 240×180, 15 fps; and modem delivery at56 Kbps, 160×120, 15 fps. The exemplary Video 8 and Audio 8 codecs aresuitable for supporting such profiles wherein the compression ratio forvideo is generally at least approximately 50:1 and more generally in therange of approximately 200:1 to approximately 500:1 (of course, higherratios are also possible). For example, video having a resolution of 320pixel by 240 line, a frame rate of 30 fps and a color depth of 24 bitsrequires approximately 55 Mbps; thus, for DSL/cable delivery at 250Kbps, a compression ratio of at least approximately 220:1 is required.Consider another example, a 1280×720, 24 fps profile at a color bitdepth of 24 corresponds to a rate of approximately 0.53 Gbps.Compression of approximately 500:1 reduces this rate to approximately 1Mbps. Of course, compression may be adjusted to target a specific rateor range of rates, e.g., 0.1 Mbps, 0.5 Mbps, 1.5 Mbps, 3 Mbps, 4.5 Mbps,6 Mbps, 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps, etc. In addition, where bandwidth allows,compression ratios less than approximately 200:1 may be used, forexample, compression ratios of approximately 30:1 or approximately 50:1may be suitable. Of course, while an approximately 2 Mbps data rate isavailable over many LANs, even a higher speed LAN may require furthercompression to facilitate distribution to a plurality of users (e.g., atapproximately the same time). Again, while these examples refer to theVideo 8 and/or Audio 8 codecs, use of other codecs is also possible.

[0101] The Video 8 and Audio 8 codecs, when used with the WINDOWS MEDIA™Encoder 7.1 may be used for capture, compression and/or streaming ofaudio and video content in a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format. Conversion of anexisting video file(s) (e.g., AVI format files) to the WINDOWS MEDIA™file format is possible with WINDOWS MEDIA™ 8 Encoding Utility software.The WINDOWS MEDIA™ 8 Encoding Utility software supports “two-pass” andvariable-bit-rate encoding. The WINDOWS MEDIA™ 8 Encoding Utilitysoftware is suitable for producing content in a WINDOWS MEDIA™ formatthat can be downloaded and played locally.

[0102] As already mentioned, the WINDOWS MEDIA™ format optionallyincludes the active stream format and/or the advanced systems format.Various features of the active stream format are described in U.S. Pat.No. 6,041,345, entitled “Active stream format for holding multiple mediastreams”, issued Mar. 21, 2000, and assigned to Microsoft Corporation('345 patent). The '345 patent is incorporated herein by reference forall purposes, particularly those related to file formats and/or streamformats. The '345 patent defines an active stream format for a logicalstructure that optionally encapsulates multiple data streams, whereinthe data streams may be of different media (e.g., audio, video, etc.).The data of the data streams is generally partitioned into packets thatare suitable for transmission over a transport medium (e.g., a network,etc.). The packets may include error correcting information. The packetsmay also include clock licenses for dictating the advancement of a clockwhen the data streams are rendered. The active stream format canfacilitate flexibility and choice of packet size and bit rate at whichdata may be rendered. Error concealment strategies may be employed inthe packetization of data to distribute portions of samples to multiplepackets. Property information may also be replicated and stored inseparate packets to enhance error tolerance.

[0103] In general, the advanced systems format is a file format used byWINDOWS MEDIA™ technologies and it is generally an extensible formatsuitable for use in authoring, editing, archiving, distributing,streaming, playing, referencing and/or otherwise manipulating content(e.g., audio, video, etc.). Thus, it is suitable for data delivery overa wide variety of networks and is also suitable for local playback. Inaddition, it is suitable for use with a transportable storage medium, asdescribed in more detail below. As mentioned, a file container (e.g.,the file container 340) optionally uses an advanced systems format, forexample, to store any of the following: audio, video, metadata (such asthe file's title and author), and index and script commands (such asURLs and closed captioning); which are optionally stored in a singlefile. Various features of the advanced systems format appear in adocument entitled “Advanced Systems Format (ASF)” from MicrosoftCorporation (Doc. Rev. 01.13.00e—current as of 01.23.02). This documentis a specification for the advanced systems format and is availablethrough the Microsoft Corporation Web site (www.microsoft.com). The“Advanced Systems Format (ASF)” document (sometimes referred to hereinas the “ASF specification”) is incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes and, in particular, purposes relating to encoding, decoding,file formats and/or stream formats.

[0104] An ASF file and/or stream typically includes three top-levelobjects: a header object, a data object, and an index object. The headerobject is commonly placed at the beginning of an ASF file or stream; thedata object typically follows the header object; and the index object isoptional, but it is useful in providing time-based random access into anASF file. The header object generally provides a byte sequence at thebeginning of an ASF file or stream (e.g., a GUID to identify objectsand/or entities within a ASF file) and contains information to interpretinformation within the data object. The header object optionallycontains metadata, such as, but not limited to, bibliographicinformation, etc.

[0105] An ASF file and/or stream may include information such as, butnot limited to, the following: format data size (e.g., number of bytesstored in a format data field); image width (e.g., width of an encodedimage in pixels); image height (e.g., height of an encoded image inpixels); bits per pixel; compression ID (e.g., type of compression);image size (e.g., size of an image in bytes); horizontal pixels permeter (e.g., horizontal resolution of a target device for a bitmap inpixels per meter); vertical pixels per meter (e.g., vertical resolutionof a target device for a bitmap in pixels per meter); colors used (e.g.,number of color indexes in a color table that are actually used by abitmap); important colors (e.g., number of color indexes for displayinga bitmap); codec specific data (e.g., an array of codec specific databytes).

[0106] The ASF also allows for inclusion of commonly used media types,which may adhere to other specifications. In addition, a partiallydownloaded ASF file may still function (e.g., be playable), as long asrequired header information and some complete set of data are available.

[0107] As mentioned, the WINDOWS MEDIA™ 8 Encoding Utility is capable ofencoding content at variable bit rates. In general, encoding at variablebit rates may help preserve image quality of the original video becausethe bit rate used to encode each frame can fluctuate, for example, withthe complexity of the scene composition. Types of variable bit rateencoding include quality-based variable bit rate encoding andbit-rate-based variable bit rate encoding. Quality-based variable bitrate encoding is typically used for a set desired image quality level.In this type of encoding, content passes through the encoder once, andcompression is applied as the content is encountered. This type ofencoding generally assures a high encoded image quality. Bit-rate-basedvariable bit rate encoding is useful for a set desired bit rate. In thistype of encoding, the encoder reads through the content first in orderto analyze its complexity and then encodes the content in a second passbased on the first pass information. This type of encoding allows forcontrol of output file size. As a further note, generally, a source filemust be uncompressed; however, compressed (e.g., AVI format) files aresupported if an image compression manager (ICM) decompressor software isused.

[0108] Use of the Video 8 codec (or essentially any codec) due tocompression and/or decompression computations places performance demandson a computer, in particular, on a computer's processor or processors.Demand variables include, but are not limited to, resolution, frame rateand bit depth. For example, a media player relying on the Video 8 codecand executing on a computer with a processor speed of approximately 0.5GHz can decode and play encoded video (and/or audio) having a videoresolution of 640 pixel by 480 line, a frame rate of approximately 24fps and a bit depth of approximately 24. A computer with a processor ofapproximately 1.5 GHz could decode and play encoded video (and/or audio)having a video resolution of 1280 pixel by 720 line, a frame rate ofapproximately 24 fps and a bit depth of approximately 24; while, acomputer with a processor of approximately 3 GHz could decode and playencoded video (and/or audio) having a video resolution of 1920 pixel by1080 line, a frame rate of approximately 24 fps and a bit depth ofapproximately 24 (see also the graph of FIG. 14 and the accompanyingdescription). Of course, for stereoscopic images, a stereoscopic displayscheme may also be associated with demand variables.

[0109] A block diagram of an exemplary compression and decompressionprocess 400 is shown in FIG. 4. In this exemplary compression anddecompression process 400, an 8 pixel×8 pixel image block 404 from, forexample, a frame of a 1920 pixel×1080 line image, is compressed in acompression block 408, to produce a bit stream 412. The bit stream 412is then (locally and/or remotely, e.g., after streaming to a remotesite) decompressed in a decompression block 416. Once decompressed, the8 pixel×8 pixel image block 404 is ready for display, for example, as apixel by line image.

[0110] Note that the compression block 408 and the decompression block416 include several internal blocks as well as a shared quantizationtable block 430 and a shared code table block 432 (e.g., optionallycontaining a Huffman code table or tables). These blocks arerepresentative of compression and/or decompression process that use aDCT algorithm (as mentioned above) and/or other algorithms. For example,as shown in FIG. 4, a compression process that uses a transformalgorithm generally involves performing a transform on a pixel imageblock in a transform block 420, quantizing at least one transformcoefficient in a quantization block 422, and encoding quantizedcoefficients in a encoding block 424; whereas, a decompression processgenerally involves decoding quantized coefficients in a decoding block444, dequantizing coefficients in a dequantization block 442, andperforming an inverse transform in an inverse transform block 440. Asmentioned, the compression block 408 and/or the decompression block 416optionally include other functional blocks. For example, the compressionblock 408 and the decompression block 416 optionally include functionalblocks related to image block-based motion predictive coding to reducetemporal redundancy and/or other blocks to reduce spatial redundancy. Inaddition, blocks may relate to data packets. Again, the WINDOWS MEDIA™format is typically a packetized format in that a bit stream, e.g., thebit stream 412, would contain information in a packetized form. Inaddition, header and/or other information are optionally includedwherein the information relates to such packets, e.g., padding ofpackets, bit rate and/or other format information (e.g., errorcorrection, etc.). In general, the exemplary method for producing atleast one stream 200 produces at least one bit stream such as the bitstream 412 shown in FIG. 4.

[0111] Compression and/or decompression processes may also include otherfeatures to manage the data. For example, sometimes every frame of datais not fully compressed or encoded. According to such a process framesare typically classified, for example, as a key frame or a delta frame.A key frame may represent frame that is entirely encoded, e.g., similarto an encoded still image. Key frames generally occur at intervals,wherein each frame between key frames is recorded as the difference, ordelta, between it and previous frames. The number of delta framesbetween key frames is usually determinable at encode time and can bemanipulated to accommodate a variety of circumstances. Delta frames arecompressed by their very nature. A delta frame contains informationabout image blocks that have changed as well motion vectors (e.g.,bidirectional, etc.), or information about image blocks that have movedsince the previous frame. Using these measurements of change, it mightbe more efficient to note the change in position and composition for anexisting image block than to encode an entirely new one at the newlocation. Thus delta frames are most compressed in situations where thevideo is very static. As already explained, compression typicallyinvolves breaking an image into pieces and mathematically encoding theinformation in each piece. In addition, some compression processesoptimize encoding and/or encoded information. Further, other compressionalgorithms use integer transforms that are optionally approximations ofthe DCT, such algorithms may also be suitable for use in variousexemplary methods, devices, systems and/or storage media describedherein. In addition, a decompression process may also includepost-processing.

[0112] Referring again to FIG. 2, the conversion process 260 optionallyproduces a bit stream capable of carrying variable-bit-rate and/orconstant-bit-rate video and/or audio data in a particular format. Asalready discussed, bit streams are often measured in terms of bandwidthand in a transmission unit of kilobits per second (Kbps), millions ofbits per second (Mbps) or billions of bits per second (Gbps). Forexample, an integrated services digital network line (ISDN) type T-1can, at the moment, deliver up to 1.544 Mbps and a type E1 can, at themoment, deliver up to 2.048 Mbps. Broadband ISDN (BISDN) can supporttransmission from 2 Mbps up to much higher, but as yet unspecified,rates. Another example is known as digital subscriber line (DSL) whichcan, at the moment, deliver up to 8 Mbps. A variety of other examplesexist, some of which can transmit at bit rates substantially higher thanthose mentioned herein. For example, Internet2 can support data rates inthe range of approximately 100 Mbps to several gigabytes per second. Theexemplary method 200 optionally provides bit streams at a variety ofrates, including, but not limited to, approximately 1.5 Mbps, 3 Mbps,4.5 Mbps, 6 Mbps, and 10 Mbps. Such bit streams optionally include videodata having a pixel by line format and/or a frame rate that correspondsto a common digital video format as listed in Table 2.

[0113]FIGS. 5 and 6 show block diagrams of exemplary methods 500, 600for producing stereoscopic video. Of course, audio may also accompanythe video throughout the exemplary methods 500, 600. Referring to FIG.5, in a left image shooting block 510 and a right image shooting block510′, images are acquired, for example, on photographic film. Next, inat least one film transfer block (e.g., left film transfer block 520 andright film transfer block 520′), film is transferred to a telecine orother suitable analog-to-digital conversion device. In ananalog-to-digital conversion block 530, the left and right images fromthe film are converted to digital data. The analog-to-digital conversionblock 530 then outputs a digital data stream to a recorder and/or othersuitable device. In a conversion, storage and/or transmission block 540,the digital data are converted, stored and/or transmitted by a computer,recorder and/or analyzer (e.g., switcher/multiplexer). A conversion toparticular format block 550 optionally follows wherein the digital data(converted, stored, and/or transmitted via the functional block 540) areconverted to at least one file and/or stream.

[0114] For stereoscopic images, formatting of left and right imagesoptionally occurs at any of a variety of points. For example, formattingmay occur in the analog-to-digital conversion block 530 wherein atelecine alternately converts a left image from a left film and a rightimage from a right film to digital images. Such a telecine may have areel(s) and/or other means for carrying a left film and a right film. Inanother example, formatting occurs in the conversion, storage and/ortransmission block 540. In this example, a computer, a recorder and/oran analyzer receive digital data from the analog-to-digital conversionblock 530 for a left image and a right image. The computer, recorderand/or analyzer then format the digital data in a stereoscopic format,such as, but not limited to, a left channel and a right channel formator an alternating left data and right data format. In yet anotherexample, formatting occurs in the conversion to a particular formatblock 550. In this example, a computer receives left image data andright image data. Next, the computer converts left image data to a leftfile and/or stream and converts right image data to a right file and/orstream. Alternatively, the computer converts the left image data and theright image data to a single file and/or stream. In this alternativeexample, the right image data and the left image data are optionallyinterleaved and/or formatted in a side-by-side or above-below format. Ingeneral, as described above, the conversion to a particular formatinvolves use of a codec or compression algorithm. In one exemplarymethod, the particular format is a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format, such as, butnot limited to, an advanced systems format. Of course, other formats maybe suitable.

[0115] Referring to FIG. 6, an exemplary method for producingstereoscopic video 600 is shown. In a left image shooting block 610 anda right image shooting block 610′, images are acquired using, forexample, an electronic stereo camera and/or two electronic cameraswherein the stereo camera and/or cameras output data via analog and/ordigital signals to a recording/storage medium and/or an external device(see, e.g., the aforementioned SONY® digital cameras). The exemplarymethod 600 optionally uses a genlock device to lock or synchronize leftand right image data and/or signals. In a conversion, storage and/ortransmission block 640, the data are converted, stored and/ortransmitted by a computer, recorder and/or analyzer (including, e.g., aswitcher or a multiplexer). A conversion to a particular format block650 optionally follows wherein the digital data (converted, stored,and/or transmitted via the functional block 640) are converted to atleast one file and/or stream.

[0116] For stereoscopic images, formatting of left and right imagesoptionally occurs at any of a variety of points. For example, formattingmay occur in the conversion, storage and/or transmission block 640. Inthis example, a computer, a recorder and/or an analyzer receive analogand/or digital data from the shooting blocks 610, 610′ for a left imageand a right image. The computer, recorder and/or analyzer then formatthe data in a stereoscopic format, such as, but not limited to, a leftchannel and a right channel format or an alternating left data and rightdata format. In yet another example, formatting occurs in the conversionto a particular format block 650. In this example, a computer receivesleft image data and right image data. Next, the computer converts leftimage data to a left file and/or stream and converts right image data toa right file and/or stream. Alternatively, the computer converts theleft image data and the right image data to a single file and/or stream.In this alternative example, the right image data and the left imagedata are optionally interleaved and/or formatted in a side-by-side orabove-below format. In general, as described above, the conversion to aparticular format involves use of a codec or compression algorithm. Inone exemplary method, the particular format is a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format,such as, but not limited to, an advanced systems format. Of course,other formats may be suitable.

[0117]FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an exemplary method 700 forproducing a bit stream. In this exemplary method 700, the resulting bitstream has a format suitable for use in a stereoscopic display scheme.According to the method 700, in a shoot block 704, video is acquired viafilm and/or electronic means. Of course, the video may also have anaudio track recorded on film and/or on another medium. Next, in aconversion block 708, the video is converted to a digital data stream,which optionally includes audio data. Of course, if a digital electroniccamera(s) is used, then this conversion may not be necessary. Thedigital data stream of the conversion block 708 optionally complies withthe SMPTE 292M specification or SMPTE 259M specification. The digitaldata stream may have, for example, a 1920 pixel by 1080 line resolutionformat and a frame rate of approximately 24 fps. The digital data streamoptionally includes a left image and a right image (e.g., side-by-sideor above-below), alternating left and right images, right images onlyand/or left images only. The digital data stream is optionally recordedby a recorder onto a suitable recording medium in a record block 712.The digital video data are optionally recorded on a frame-by-frame orother suitable basis.

[0118] In the record block 712, the video may retain its original pixelby line format and/or frame rate. Alternatively, the pixel by lineformat and/or the frame rate are converted to a format and/or frame ratesuitable for use with a stereoscopic display scheme. In addition, thevideo data may be scaled and/or frames omitted; of course, these and/orother operations may be performed in the conversion block 708. Followingthe record block 712, in yet another conversion block 716, the digitaldata are converted to a format suitable for streaming and/or storage.The conversion block 716 optionally compresses the digital data, forexample, using a compression algorithm. For example, the conversionblock 716 optionally compresses the recorded digital data using WINDOWSMEDIAυ software that includes a video and/or audio codec. In addition,the conversion block 716 typically converts the recorded digital data toa particular format. Suitable formats include, but are not limited to,WINDOWS MEDIA™ formats (e.g., advanced systems format).

[0119] The conversion block 716 may also scale the image size prior to,during and/or after any conversion. For example, the exemplary method700 optionally records digital video data having a resolution of 1920pixel by 1080 line and then scales this data to a resolution of 1280pixel by 720 line. After scaling, the conversion block 716, asmentioned, optionally compresses the data wherein the compressed datahas a particular format. In this example, the particular format issuitable for streaming the data, for example, but not limited to, with abandwidth of approximately 1.5 Mbps, 3 Mbps, 6 Mbps, 10 Mbps, etc. Notethat according to aspects of other exemplary methods described herein,conversion to a particular format does not necessarily involvecompression, for example, consider conversion from an uncompressedQUICKTIME® format to an uncompressed WINDOWS MEDIA™ format. Such aconversion is optionally based on a conversion of header information. Ofcourse, the resolution, frame rate, color format, and/or stream rate maydepend on the stereoscopic display scheme. For example, one particularstereoscopic display scheme, described below, optionally uses right andleft images wherein each image has an approximately 853 pixel byapproximately 486 line format (e.g., approximately 400,000 pixels).

[0120] Referring to FIG. 8, a digital storage and/or structuring device810 is shown. While FIG. 8 shows functional blocks in a device, variousfunctional blocks optionally appear as a system wherein more than onecomputer (e.g., computing device) is used. This particular device 810,and/or features thereof, is suitable for use with various exemplarymethods described herein. For example, the device 810 is suitable foruse in the exemplary method 500 of FIG. 5 for performing some or alltasks of blocks 540 and/or 550; and in the exemplary method 600 of FIG.6 for performing some or all tasks of blocks 640 and 650. In particular,use of the device 810 may simplify tasks and/or alleviate tasks of theexemplary method 700 of FIG. 7.

[0121] The digital storage and/or structuring device 810 optionallyincludes some or all features of the aforementioned devices of Àccom,Inc. and/or Post Impressions, Inc. The device 810 may also include someor all features of other hardware and/or software described herein.Thus, the digital storage and/or structuring device 810 is optionallycapable of recording video data from a telecine and/or otheranalog-to-digital conversion device (e.g., a digital camera). Thedigital storage and/or structuring device is also optionally capable ofreceiving digital video data from other sources (e.g., arecorder/player). As shown in FIG. 8, this device 810 includes a varietyof functional hardware and/or software blocks, some of which may beoptional. The blocks include a digital serial interface (DSI) block 814for receiving and/or sending video data via a digital serial interface.The DSI block 814 may receive and/or send digital video data transmittedaccording to an SMPTE standard and/or other standards. A processor block818 performs various computational tasks typically related to otherfunctional blocks. A RAM block 822 optionally stores video data prior tostorage in a storage block 824. A structure block 826 optionallystructures video data from the RAM block 810 or from another block priorto storage in the storage block 824. For example, the device 810 mayreceive video data via the DSI block 814, transmit the data to the RAMblock 822 for storage in RAM and then structure the video data in thestructure block 826 to allow for more efficient storage of the videodata in the storage block 826. Accordingly, the structure block 826 maystructure the data according to a format, typically suitable forstorage. Such formats include, but are not limited to, a WINDOWS MEDIA™format. In this particular example, the data is optionally in an“uncompressed” form, in that, it has not been compression encoded. Inone particular example, the structure block 826 structures video data ina particular format and stores the structured data to a disk or disks.Structuring may also include structuring of format information (e.g.,contained in a file header) to other information associated with anotherformat. Such structuring may effectively produce a WINDOWS MEDIA™ formatfile and/or stream suitable for encoding by a WINDOWS MEDIA™ encoder(e.g., compression encoding). In addition, structuring may includestructuring in a stereoscopic format, i.e., a format suitable for usewith a stereoscopic display scheme. Further, structuring may alsoinclude encoding, e.g., to thereby produce a file and/or a streamsuitable for decompression or decoding.

[0122] A scaler block 830 optionally scales video data prior to and/orafter storage of video data. The scaler block 830 optionally scalesvideo resolution (e.g., pixel and/or line) and/or frame rate (e.g.,drops frames). In addition, the scaler block 830 may also scale and/oralter color information, potentially according to a color spacespecification and/or sampling format (e.g., reducing bit depth). Thescaler block 830 optionally comprises scaling software. Such software isoptionally ADOBE® PREMIER® software (Adobe Systems, Inc., San Jose,Calif.). The ADOBE® PREMIER® software can edit digital video data in avariety formats, including QUICKTIME® format, WINDOWS MEDIA™ format, andAVI format. In an exemplary system, a scaler block resides on a separatecomputer that optionally accepts video data from a device such as thedevice 810 shown in FIG. 8. Such a system may also be capable oftransmitting scaled video data, whether encoded or unencoded, in avariety of formats. The device 810 may also scale data to conform to asuitable stereoscopic display scheme.

[0123] The device 810 optionally includes an encode block 834 that canencode video data. For example, the encode block 834 can encodes videodata stored in the storage block 824. The encode block 834 optionallyincludes software components for encoding. For example, the encode block834 optionally includes WINDOWS MEDIA™ technology components thatoperate on a WINDOWS® OS or other OS. According to an exemplary system,the encoder block 834 is optionally executed on a separate computer incommunication with the device 810 wherein the separate computeroptionally includes storage and/or a communication interface. Theencoded video data is then optionally stored in the storage block 824and/or transmitted via a network block 838. For example, referring toFIGS. 5 and 6, the device 810 optionally operates as blocks 540 or 640wherein structuring to a format occurs and encoding occurs in subsequentblocks 550 or 650. Alternatively, structuring and encoding occur inblocks 540 or 640 using a device such as the device 810. As mentioned,the encode block 834 is optionally included in the structure block 826;thus, structuring optionally includes encoding. While the descriptionlargely pertains to video, it is understood that often audio data willaccompany the video data and that the WINDOWS MEDIA™ format and/or otherformats (e.g., QUICKTIME® format, etc.) can be used for, and mayinclude, both video and audio data.

[0124]FIG. 9 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method forstructuring and storing video data 900. In a reception block 904, adevice (e.g., the device 810 of FIG. 8) receives digital video data viaa digital serial interface. Next, in a structuring block 908, the devicestructures the digital video data in a manner that facilitates storageof the video data onto a storage medium (e.g., in a storage block 712).For example, the device may structure the video data to facilitatestorage of the data onto a disk or a disk array. As mentionedpreviously, such structuring optionally includes structuring to aWINDOWS MEDIA™ format. In addition, structuring may include structuringto a stereoscopic format. Once the video data is stored onto a storagemedium, then, in a scale block 916, the device optionally scales thedata in manner that may facilitates distribution and/or playback of thevideo data (e.g., facilitates stereoscopic distribution and/orplayback). Finally, the scaled data is transmitted via a network orother transmission means to a downstream client or clients. For example,the device may receive 1920 pixel by 1080 line resolution video at arate of approximately 1.5 Gbps, structure and store this data in or nearreal-time, scale the data to fit a particular downstream client and thentransmit the data to the downstream client. The device may optionallysave scaled data and then transmit the already saved scaled data and/orscale data on the fly or as demanded.

[0125] A block diagram of another exemplary method for storing and/orstructuring data 1000 is shown in FIG. 10. In a reception block 1004, adevice (e.g., the device 810 of FIG. 8) receives digital video data viaa digital serial interface. Next, in a structuring block 1008, thedevice structures the digital video data in a manner that facilitatesstorage of the video data onto a storage medium (e.g., in a storageblock 1012). For example, the device may structure the video data tofacilitate storage of the data onto a disk or a disk array. As mentionedpreviously, such structuring optionally includes structuring to aWINDOWS MEDIA™ format. In addition, the structuring may includestructuring to a stereoscopic format. Once the video data is stored ontoa storage medium, then, in an encode block 1016, the device optionallyencodes the data in manner that may facilitate distribution and/orplayback of the video data. Finally, the encoded data is transmitted viaa network to a downstream client or clients. For example, the device mayreceive 1920 pixel by 1080 line resolution video at a rate ofapproximately 1.5 Gbps, structure and store this data in or nearreal-time, encode the data to fit a particular downstream client andthen transmit the data to the downstream client. The device mayoptionally save encoded data and then transmit the already saved encodeddata and/or encode data on the fly or as demanded. Encoded data isoptionally transmitted as a complete file or as a data stream. In aparticular example, the encoded data is in a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format. Theexemplary method may produce a single left video file and/or stream, asingle right video file and/or stream, an interlaced left and rightvideo file and/or stream and/or a variety of other files and/or streamsfor use in a stereoscopic display scheme.

[0126] An exemplary method that makes use of features of the device 810and of the exemplary methods 900 and 1000 receives digital video datahaving a resolution of approximately 1920 pixel by approximately 1080lines. Next, the data is structured in a format suitable for storage.Once stored, a computer having scaling software accesses the stored dataand scales the resolution to approximately 1280 pixel by approximately720 lines. Of course, scaling to other resolutions is also possible,e.g., 853 pixel by 486 line, 352 pixel by 480 line, etc. After scaling,a software block, optionally operating on the same computer as thescaling software, structures the data into another format and thenencodes the data. For example, the computer optionally structures thedata in a WINDOWS MEDIA™ format and encodes the data using a WINDOWSMEDIA™ codec.

[0127] In the exemplary methods, devices and/or systems referred to inFIGS. 8-10, a device (e.g., the device 810 of FIG. 8) optionallytransmits stored video data to a CD recorder and/or a DVD recorder. TheCD and/or DVD recorder then records the data, which is optionallyencoded or compressed and/or scaled to facilitate playback on a CDand/or DVD player. DVD players can typically play data at a rate of 10Mbps; however, future players can be expected to play data at higherrates, e.g., perhaps 500 Mbps. In this particular example, the devicescales the video data according to a DVD player specification (e.g.,according to a data rate) and transmits the scaled data to a DVDrecorder. The resulting DVD is then playable on a DVD player having theplayer specification. According to such a method, encoding orcompression is not necessarily required in that scaling achieves asuitable reduction in data rate. In general, scaling is a process thatdoes not rely on a process akin to compression/decompression (orencoding/decoding) in that information lost during scaling is notgenerally expected to be revived downstream. Where encoding orcompression is used, a suitable compression ratio is used to fit thecontent onto a DVD disk. The CD and/or DVD recorder and/or playeroptionally support a stereoscopic display scheme. In perhaps thesimplest case, the CD and/or DVD player plays stereoscopic videoaccording to a WLC stereoscopic display scheme. In other instances, theCD and/or DVD player supply a signal for an eyewear shutter.

[0128] Regarding storage to a transportable storage medium, such as, butnot limited to, a DVD disk, consider content having a 1280 pixel by 720line resolution, a frame rate of 24 fps and a color depth of 24 bits.Such content requires a bit rate of approximately 530 Mbps and two hoursof content requires a file size of approximately 3.8 Tb. Forstereoscopic video using a stereoscopic display scheme that relies onleft eye video and right eye video, the requirements would typically bedouble: an overall bit rate of approximately 1.6 Gbps and an overallfile(s) size of approximately 7.6 Tb. A compression ratio ofapproximately 200:1 would reduce the overall file(s) size toapproximately 38 Gb, which would fit on a single sided DVD disk. Inaddition, the overall bit rate would be approximately 8 Mbps. Consideranother example with content having a 853 pixel by 486 line resolution,a frame rate of 24 fps and a color depth of 24 bits. For two hours ofstereoscopic video using a stereoscopic display scheme that relies onleft eye video and right eye video, an overall bit rate of approximately480 Mbps and an overall file(s) size of approximately 3.4 Tb results. Acompression ratio of approximately 100:1 would reduce the overallfile(s) size to approximately 38 Gb, which would fit on a single sidedDVD disk. In addition, the overall bit rate would be approximately 5Mbps. Subjective and objective quality measures of such content arediscussed in more detail below.

[0129] Referring to FIG. 11, an exemplary method 1100 for displayingstereoscopic images is shown. In an acquisition block 1104, stereoscopicimage data are acquired from a source, such as, but not limited to, atelecine, a camera, a computer, an animator, etc. Next, in a conversionblock 1108, the stereoscopic image data are converted to a particularformat (e.g., using the device 810 of FIG. 8). Following the conversion,in a display block 1112, a computer displays the stereoscopic imagesusing a stereoscopic display scheme. For example, in the display block1112, the computer optionally executes software to operate at least oneplayer capable of decoding and displaying images supplied in theparticular format. In this example, the computer optionally executessoftware to operate two players wherein one player displays left imagesand the other player displays right images. Further, the two players areoperated in a coordinated manner to allow each player to, for example,display to the same display space and/or a different display space. Forexample, both players optionally display images to a 853 pixel by 486line display space. Alternatively, for example, the players displayimages to side-by-side display spaces and/or different display devices.As previously mentioned, the left and right images optionally have an853 pixel by 486 line format. For stereoscopic display schemes usingeyewear, the left image display and/or the right image display arecoordinated with the eyewear to enable 3D viewing. Such coordination isoptionally achieved by providing a signal for eyewear associated with astereoscopic display scheme. For example, a WLC may simply provide a“white line code”, or other suitable code, on a display. Other exemplarysystems and/or method optionally provide an electromagnetic signal thatis sensed by eyewear and/or equipment associated with eyewear. Further,a computer for the aforementioned exemplary methods optionally includesdual video display capabilities to display images using two or moredisplay devices. Such capabilities may also be combined with amultiplexer to display a left image and a right image using one displaydevice.

[0130] Another exemplary method for displaying stereoscopic images 1200is shown in FIG. 12. In an acquisition block 1204, stereoscopic imagedata are acquired from a source, such as, but not limited to, atelecine, a camera, a computer, an animator, etc. Next, in a conversionblock 1208, the stereoscopic image data are converted to a particularformat (e.g., using the device 810 of FIG. 8). Following the conversion,in a display block 1212, a computer displays the stereoscopic imagesusing a stereoscopic display scheme. For example, in the display block1212, the computer optionally executes software to operate a playercapable of decoding and displaying images supplied in the particularformat. In this example, the computer optionally executes software tooperate a player wherein the player displays alternately a left imageand a right image. For stereoscopic display schemes using eyewear,display of the left image and/or the right image are coordinated withthe eyewear to enable 3D viewing. In this example, the computer and thedisplay device optionally have a high refresh rate, for example, 96 Hzand above. In general, such a refresh rate is suitable for displayingvideo having a frame rate of 48 fps (e.g., stereoscopic video whereineach eye has a frame rate of 24 fps).

[0131] In various exemplary methods, image data are optionally scaled toaccount for processing power of downstream destinations, e.g., clients,and/or the type of stereoscopic display scheme used. For example, a 900MHz PENTIUM® III processor (Intel Corporation, Delaware) in a computerwith appropriate buss architecture and a VGA output card can produceconsistent play of a 0.75 Mbps stream having an 853 pixel by 486 pixelimage format, a frame rate of 24 fps, and a bit depth of approximately24 (e.g., “true color”). Dual 1.1 Ghz PENTIUM® III processors in acomputer or a single 1.4 GHz AMD® processor (Advanced Micro Devices,Incorporated, Delaware) in a computer can consistently be used to decodeand play of a stream having a 1280 pixel by 720 line format, a framerate of 24 fps and a bit depth of approximately 24 (e.g., “true color”)while dual 1.4 GHz AMD® processors in a computer can be used to decodeand play a stream having a 1920 pixel by 1080 line image format, a framerate of 24 fps and a bit depth of approximately 24 (e.g., “true color”).Of course, other arrangements are possible, including single processorcomputers having processor speeds in excess of 1 GHz (also see the graphof FIG. 13 and the accompanying description). Of course, adjustments arepossible to account for stereoscopic video, particularly, thecharacteristics of the stereoscopic video and/or the stereoscopicdisplay scheme.

[0132]FIG. 13 is a graph of bit rate in Gbps (ordinate, y-axis) versusprocessor speed for a computer having a single processor (abscissa,x-axis). The graph shows data for encoding video and for decoding video.Note that the data points lay along approximately straight lines in thex-y plane (a solid line is shown for decoding and a dashed line is shownfor encoding). A regression analysis shows that decoding has a slope ofapproximately 0.4 Gbps per GHz processor speed and that encoding has aslope of approximately 0.1 Gbps per GHz processor speed. In thisparticular graph, it is apparent that, with reference to the foregoingdiscussion, that resolution, frame rate and color space need not adhereto any specific format and/or specification. The ordinate data wascalculated by multiplying a pixel resolution number by a line resolutionnumber to arrive at the number of pixels per frame and then multiplyingthe pixels per frame number by a frame rate and the number of colorinformation bits per pixel. Thus, according to various exemplarymethods, devices and/or systems described herein, encoding and/ordecoding performance characteristics, if plotted in a similar mannerwould produce data lying approximately along the respective lines asshown in FIG. 13. Thus, according to various aspects of exemplarymethods, devices and/or systems described herein, a computer having anapproximately 1.5 GHz processor has can decode encoded video at a rateof approximately 0.6 Gbps, e.g., 1.5 GHz multiplied by 0.4 Gbps/GHz, andtherefore, handle video having a display rate of approximately 0.5 Gbps,e.g., video having a resolution of 1280 pixel by 720 line, a frame rateof 24 frames per second and a color bit depth of 24 bits. Note that fordecoding, the rate is given based on a video display format and not onthe rate of data into the decoder. The performance for stereoscopicvideo may depend on the type of method used. For example, encodingand/or decoding of a stream or a file containing alternating right andleft image data may have rates that exceed 0.1 Gbps/GHz (encoding)and/or 0.4 Gbps/GHz (decoding) due to similarities between right imageand left image. Possible enhancements due to similarities between rightimage and left image are discussed below.

[0133] The various exemplary methods described herein typically compress(or encode) and/or decompress (or decode) video data. As shown in FIG.4, image data 404 is compressed (or encoded) in an encoding block 408,transmitted as a bit stream 412 and/or as a file, and decompressed (ordecoded) in a decoding block 416. Another exemplarycompression/decompression method 1400 is shown in FIG. 14. This methodoptionally uses two computers, an encoding computer 1401 and a decodingcomputer 1402. As shown, the encoding computer 1401 receives left imagedata 1404 and right image data 1404′. The encoding computer 1401 encodesthe left image data 1404 and the right image data 1404′ in an encodingblock 1408. In general, simultaneously acquired stereoscopic left andright images are quite similar, especially when one considers that thehuman eyes have an interaxial separation of approximately 6 cm. Thus, acompression algorithm may compress a right image on the basis of a leftimage or vice versa. As a result, the size of a compressed left andright stereoscopic image pair is less than the size of two independentmonoscopic images. As a consequence, display of stereoscopic video doesnot necessarily require twice the bandwidth, memory and/or processingpower as display of monoscopic video. Referring again to FIG. 14, anencode block 1408 alternately compresses (or encodes) left image data1404 and right image data 1404′. Further, in this exemplary method 1400,the encode block 1408 does not necessarily differ from an encode blockfor compressing (or encoding) monoscopic images. Again, post-processingan inter- or intra-frame information may also be used in compressionand/or decompression.

[0134] After the encode block 1408, the stereoscopic image data arestored and/or transmitted. As shown in FIG. 14, the stereoscopic imagedata are streamed in a stream block 1412 from the encoding computer 1401to the decoding computer 1402 using a constant bit rate and/or avariable bit rate. The decoding computer 1402 includes a decode block1416 for decompressing (or decoding) the stereoscopic image data. Thedecoding computer 1402 also includes a display device or display devicememory (e.g., a framebuffer) 1420. The decoding computer 1402 transmitsstereoscopic image data decompressed by the decode block 1416 to thedisplay device or display device memory 1420 to generate a 3D displayusing a suitable stereoscopic display scheme.

[0135] Suitable stereoscopic display schemes for use with the exemplarymethod 1400 include, but are not limited to, full-screen, WLC, and/orquad-buffered display schemes. In particular, one exemplary stereoscopicdisplay scheme alternately displays a left eye image and a right eyeimage and simply synchronizes eyewear with display of the left eye imageand the right eye image. According to this exemplary scheme, thedecoding computer 1402 executes a player that transmits a sync signal toeyewear (which optionally includes a device associated with goggles,etc.). Alternatively, the signal may be triggered by a framebuffer oranother component of the encoding computer 1402 and associated displaydevice.

[0136] In general, once a stream and/or file are delivered, a computerhaving appropriate decompression (or decoding) software (e.g., WINDOWSMEDIA™ technology software, etc.) may play the video and/or audioinformation encoded in the stream and/or file. For example, FIG. 15shows a diagram of an exemplary method 1500 for playing video and/oraudio information delivered in an encoded format. According to thisexemplary method 1500, a computer 1504 having decompression software(e.g., WINDOWS MEDIA™ software, etc.) receives digital data in anencoded format (e.g., WINDOWS MEDIA™ format, etc.) as a stream and/or asfile. The digital data optionally includes video data having an imageand/or frame rate format selected from the common video formats listedin Table 2, for example, the digital data optionally has a 1280 pixel by720 line image format. Other video resolution formats are possible aswell, for example, but not limited to, 1280 pixel by 1024 line, 1024pixel by 768 line, 853 pixel by 486 line, 352 pixel by 480 line etc. Ofcourse, the data may have a different image format and/or frame rate. Ingeneral, the image format and frame rate are suitable for use in astereoscopic display scheme.

[0137] In an exemplary method, a left eye video file and/or stream and aright eye video file and/or stream are launched simultaneously andlocked together using two players. The players optionally direct thedecoded data to individual outputs of a dual video display card (e.g., adual VGA card, etc.). A multiplexer is optionally used to multiplex theleft eye video and the right eye video output of the display card to asingle monitor. The method further optionally provides a signal foreyewear. Such a signal is optionally in sync with the players, thedisplay card, the multiplexer and/or another part of the stereoscopicdisplay system to allow for stereoscopic display of the left eye videoand right eye video.

[0138] Yet another exemplary method uses a single player that can handletwo streams and/or two files, wherein each stream and/or file includeseither left eye video or right eye video. This exemplary method displaysleft and right eye video sequentially, for example, on a monitor with arefresh rate that is approximately at least twice the sum of the framerates. For example, if the left eye and the right eye video have a framerate of 24 fps, then a monitor having a refresh rate of approximately 96Hz is optionally used. Of course, an even higher refresh rate wouldproduce an even higher quality result. For example, a monitor with arefresh rate of approximately at least 120 Hz is optionally used.Further, this exemplary method optionally uses a DIRECTSHOW® applicationor a DIRECTX® SDK (Microsoft, Inc., Redmond, Wash.).

[0139] As shown in FIG. 15, data are received by the computer 1504. Forexample, the aforementioned digital data (resolution of 1280 pixel by720 line) are received by a computer (e.g., the computer 1504) having aPENTIUM® processor (Intel Corporation, Delaware) having a speed of 1.4GHz (e.g., a PENTIUM® III processor). Consider another example whereinthe digital data optionally has a 1920 pixel by 1080 line image formatand a frame rate of 24 fps. The data are received by a computer (e.g.,the computer 1504) having two processors, wherein each processor has aspeed of greater than 1.2 GHz, e.g., two AMD® processors (Advanced MicroDevices, Incorporated, Delaware). In general, a faster processor speedallows for a higher resolution image format and/or a higher frame rate.Of course, adjustments are possible for stereoscopic video. For example,the resolution is optionally adjusted to a target number of pixels (orless) based on processing speed and/or a need to have an effective framerate double that of each individual left eye video or right eye video.

[0140] The graph of FIG. 13 is at times useful in determining and/orestimating a target number of pixels per second for stereoscopic video.For example, given an approximately 2 GHz processor, according to thegraph of FIG. 13, a decode bit rate of approximately 0.5 Gbps ispossible. Now consider a frame rate of 24 fps and a requirement forcorresponding stereoscopic video of approximately 48 fps; dividing 0.5Gbps by 48 fps yields approximately 10 Mb. Now consider a color depth of16 bits per pixel; dividing 10 Mb by 16 bits per pixel yieldsapproximately 650,000 pixels, which corresponds to a square image ofapproximately 800 pixel by 800 lines. Thus, a computer having anapproximately 2 GHz processor can provide a stereoscopic display with aresolution of 800 pixel by 800 lines (or essentially any possiblecombination of pixel and line that equates with 650,000 pixels or less).In addition, 2 hours of such stereoscopic content (approximately 3.5 Tb)fits on a single sided DVD disk with a compression ratio ofapproximately 100:1. The bit rate for 35 Gb of such stereoscopic contentis approximately 5 Mbps. Of course, with a higher compression ratio, thefile size and the bit rate are optionally reduced. For example, a 500:1compression ratio decreases the bit rate to approximately 1 Mbps.

[0141] Referring again to FIG. 15, after the computer 1504 has receivedthe data, the data are transmitted to an input/output device 1508capable of outputting data in a particular format. For example, one suchI/O device is the FILMSTORE™ (Avica Technology Corporation, SantaMonica, Calif.) I/O device, which can output data according to the SMPTE292M specification. The FILMSTORE™ I/O device is compression andencryption independent and has a DVD-ROM drive, six channel (5.1)digital audio output, and up to 15 TB of storage. The FILMSTORE™ I/Odevice stand-alone playback capability and, in a server configuration,can accommodate single or multi-screen playing, optionally withcontinuously changing storage, scheduling and distribution requirements.Suitable inputs to the FILMSTORE™ I/O device include, but are notlimited to, satellite feeds, broadband connections and/or physicalmedia. Alternatively, the I/O device 1508 is a card in the computer1504.

[0142] As shown in FIG. 15, output from the I/O device 1508 istransmitted to a monitor 1512, a projector 1516 and/or eyewear 1520. Themonitor 1512 and/or the projector 1516 optionally accept data in aformat according to the SMPTE 259M, 292M specification and/or otherspecifications. For example, the I/O device can transmit data to aLG2001™ projector (Lasergraphics Incorporated, Irvine, Calif.), whichsupports a variety of digital formats and digital input from a serialdigital input, e.g., a 75 ohm BNC SMPTE 292M compliant signal cable. TheLG2001™ projector can display 1920 pixel by 1080 line resolution andalso accept 16:9 high definition television signals in both 1080i and720p formats. The LG2001™ digital projector also supports analog formatsand inputs. Regarding monitors, consider the SyncMaster 240T (SamsungElectronics Co., Ltd, South Korea), which can operate as a computermonitor as well as a widescreen DVD or HDTV display monitor. Thisdisplay monitor offers both digital and analog inputs and supports avariety of image resolutions including 1920 pixel by 1200 line. Ofcourse, the output from the I/O device 1508 may also feed a plurality ofmonitors and/or projectors. In addition, the I/O device may also providea sync signal for the eyewear 1520 or information for other stereoscopicdisplay scheme operations.

[0143] Overall, the exemplary method 1500 demonstrates delivery andplaying of high resolution video (e.g., having a 1280 pixel by 720 lineimage format or a 1920 pixel by 1080 line image format, e.g., at 24fps). Of course, delivery and playing of lesser resolutions are alsopossible. This exemplary method 1500, for a 1280 pixel by 720 line imageformat and a 1920 pixel by 1080 line image format at 24 fps, provides3-fold or 6-fold resolution increase, respectively, above standarddefinition DVD resolution at data rates below and/or equal to currentDVD standard definition data rates. As already mentioned, theapplication of compression to various formats allow content to be storedon standard definition DVDs and transmitted through existing standarddefinition pathways, such as, but not limited to, IP in digital TVtransmissions and/or satellite direct broadcast.

[0144] Another exemplary method 1600 is shown in FIG. 16 wherein acomputer 1604 transmits data to a monitor 1612, a projector 1616 and/oreyewear 1620. In this exemplary method 1600, the computer 1604 receivesdata in an encoded format and/or converts data to a decompressed format.The computer 1604 also has software for decompressing (or decoding) datain a compressed (or encoded) format. After decompression (or decoding),video data are transmitted from the computer 1604 to the monitor 1612,the projector 1616 and/or the eyewear 1620. In general, the computer1604 contains appropriate hardware and/or software to support display ofvideo data via the monitor 1612 and/or via the projector 1616.

[0145] An exemplary monitor may support the video graphic array (VGA)and/or other display specifications or standards. In general, a VGAdisplay system and other systems include sub-systems, such as, but notlimited to, a graphics controller, display memory, a serializer, anattribute controller, a sequencer and a CRT controller. In the VGAdisplay system, a computer CPU typically performs most of the work;however, a graphics controller can perform logical functions on databeing written to display memory. Display memory can be of any suitablesize, for example, display memory may include a bank of 256 k DRAMdivided into 4 64 k color planes. Further, a VGA display systemserializer receives display data from the display memory and converts itto a serial bit stream which is sent to an attribute controller. Anattribute controller typically includes color tables, e.g., look uptables (LUTs) that are used to determine what color will be displayedfor a given pixel value in display memory. A sequencer typicallycontrols timings and enables/disables color planes. Finally, in a VGAdisplay system, a CRT controller generates syncing and blanking signalsto control the monitor display.

[0146] In a computer having two processors, a left image playeroptionally decompresses left image data in an encoded format on oneprocessor and a right image player optionally decompresses right imagedata in an encoded format on the other processor. Such a dual processorcomputer may also include two framebuffers, one associated with eachprocessor, wherein a single display device may display left and rightimage data alternately as dictated by data stored in the twoframebuffers.

[0147] Recently, new specifications have arisen that include, but arenot limited to, super extended graphics array (SXGA) and ultra extendedgraphics array (UXGA). The SXGA specification is generally used inreference to screens with 1280 pixel by 1024 line resolution; UXGArefers to a resolution of 1600 pixel by 1200 line. The olderspecifications (VGA and SVGA) are often used simply in reference totheir typical resolution capabilities. The Table 4, below, shows displaymodes and the resolution levels (in pixels horizontally by pixelsvertically) most commonly associated with each. TABLE 4 Exemplary videodisplay system specifications System Pixel by Line Resolution VGA 640 ×480 SVGA 800 × 600 XGA 1024 × 768  SXGA 1280 × 1024 UXGA 1600 × 1200

[0148] Some monitors support higher resolutions, for example, considerthe SyncMaster 240T (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, South Korea), whichcan operate as a computer monitor as well as a widescreen DVD or HDTVdisplay monitor. This display monitor offers both digital and analoginputs. Regarding projection, the exemplary methods 1500 or 1600optionally use a projector such as, but not limited to, the LG2001™projector, which can display up to QXGA specification (e.g., 2048 pixelby 1536 line) resolution images directly from a computer. Of course, theoutput from the I/O device 1508 or the computer 1604 may also feed aplurality of monitors and/or projectors.

[0149] An exemplary method for displaying images from film 1700 is shownin FIG. 17. In a conversion block 1704, film images are converted to adigital data stream and/or file(s). Next, in an encoding block 1708, thedigital data stream and/or file(s) are converted (or encoded) to aformat suitable for a stream(s) and/or a file(s). Following theconversion (or encoding) of encoding block 1708, in a decoding block1712, the stream(s) and/or file(s) are converted (or decoded) to data ina digital and/or an analog video format suitable for display. Followingthe conversion (or encoding) of the decoding block 1712, the data in adigital and/or an analog format are displayed via a display block 1716.

[0150] According to the exemplary method 1700, film images (or frames)are optionally converted to digital data with an image format whereinone of the pixel or line sizes is at least approximately 352 oroptionally at least approximately 720. These digital data are thenoptionally converted to a format for storage and then optionally encodedto a format (e.g., WINDOWS MEDIA™ format, etc.) suitable for use in astream and/or file using encoding software, such as, but not limited to,aforementioned encoding software that uses a video codec. The encodedformat stream and/or file is then locally and/or remotely decoded (e.g.,using a suitable video codec) and optionally transmitted to a displaydevice (e.g., a monitor, a projector, etc.) wherein the decoded videoimages are displayed with an image format wherein at least one of thepixel or line sizes is at least 352 or optionally at least approximately720. In the case that the encoded format stream and/or file istransmitted and/or stored, decoding of the stream and/or file optionallyincludes padding (e.g., zero padding). Further, the encoded formatstream and/or file optionally contain variable-bit-rate information.

[0151] Yet another exemplary method for displaying stereoscopic videoincludes interacting with a user. For example, during execution of acomputer game, a user may optionally input information using an inputdevice (e.g., joystick, etc.). In such an example, user input may affectthe stereoscopic video by changing viewing angles, interaxial distanceand/or other parameters related to a perceived 3D view.

[0152] Various exemplary methods, devices, systems, and/or storage mediadiscussed herein are capable of providing quality equal to or betterthan that provided by MPEG-2, whether for DTV, computers, DVDs,networks, etc. In particular, various exemplary methods, devices,systems, and/or storage media discussed herein are capable of providingstereoscopic video having quality equal to or better than that providedby MPEG-2, whether for DTV, computers, DVDs, networks, etc. One measureof quality is resolution. Regarding MPEG-2 technology, most uses arelimited to non-stereoscopic 720 pixel by 480 line (345,600 pixels) or720 pixel by 576 line (414,720 pixels) resolution. In addition, DVD usesare generally limited to approximately 640 pixel by 480 line (307,200pixels) for non-stereoscopic video. Further as mentioned in thebackground section, a 352 pixel by 480 line may be specified for MPEG-2.Thus, any technology that can handle a higher resolution will inherentlyhave a higher quality. Note, however, that these resolutions are givenfor non-stereoscopic video; hence, they are generally inadequate forproviding stereoscopic video at such resolutions. Accordingly, variousexemplary methods, devices, systems, and/or storage media discussedherein are capable of handling stereoscopic video having a pixel and/orline resolution of at least approximately 352 and optionally of at leastapproximately 720. On this basis, various exemplary methods, devices,systems, and/or storage media achieve better video quality thanMPEG-2-based methods, devices, systems and/or storage media.

[0153] Another quality measure involves measurement of peak signal tonoise ratio, known as PSNR, which compares quality aftercompression/decompression with original quality. The MPEG-2 standard(e.g., MPEG-2 Test Model 5) has been thoroughly tested, typically asPSNR versus bit rate for a variety of video. For example, the MPEG-2standard has been tested using the “Mobile and Calendar” reference video(ITU-R library), which is characterized as having random motion ofobjects, slow motion, sharp moving details. In a CCIR 601 format, forMPEG-2, a PSNR of approximately 30 dB results for a bit rate ofapproximately 5 Mbps and a PSNR of approximately 27.5 dB for a bit rateof approximately 3 Mbps. Various exemplary methods, devices, systems,and/or storage media are capable of PSNRs higher than those of MPEG-2given the same bit rate and same test data.

[0154] Yet another measure of quality is comparison to VHS quality andDVD quality. Various exemplary methods, devices, systems, and/or storagemedia are capable of achieving DVD quality for 640 pixel by 480 lineresolution at bit rates of approximately 500 kbps to approximately 1.5Mbps for non-stereoscopic images and bit rates of approximately 1 Mbpsto approximately 3 Mbps for stereoscopic video. In this example, forexemplary stereoscopic video, to achieve a 1 Mbps bit rate, acompression ratio of approximately 350:1 is required for a color depthof 24 bits and a compression ration of approximately 250:1 is requiredfor a color depth of 16 bits. In this example, for exemplarystereoscopic video, to achieve a 3 Mbps bit rate, a compression ratio ofapproximately 120:1 is required for a color depth of 24 bits and acompression ratio of approximately 80:1 is required for a color depth of16 bits. Where compression ratios appear, one would understand that adecompression ratio may be represented as the reverse ratio.

[0155] Yet another measure of performance relates to data rate. Forexample, while a 2 Mbps bit rate-based “sweet spot” was given in thebackground section (for a resolution of 352 pixel by 480 line), MPEG-2is not especially useful at data rates below approximately 4 Mbps. Formost content a data rate below approximately 4 Mbps typicallycorresponds to a high compression ratio, which explains why MPEG-2 istypically used at rates greater than approximately 4 Mbps (toapproximately 30 Mbps) when resolution exceeds, for example, 352 pixelby 480 line. Thus, for a given data rate, various exemplary methods,devices, systems, and/or storage media are capable of delivering higherquality video and/or stereoscopic video. Higher quality may correspondto higher resolution, higher PSNR, and/or other measures.

[0156] Various exemplary methods, devices, systems and/or storage mediaare optionally suitable for use with games. While the description hereingenerally refers to “video” many formats discussed herein also supportaudio. Thus, where appropriate, it is understood that audio mayaccompany video. Although some exemplary methods, devices, and/orsystems have been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings and describedin the foregoing Detailed Description, it will be understood that themethods, devices, systems, and/or storage media are not limited to theexemplary embodiments disclosed, but are capable of numerousrearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing fromthe spirit set forth and defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for displaying stereoscopic videocomprising: receiving compressed left eye digital video data andcompressed right eye digital video data; decompressing the compressedleft eye digital video data and the compressed right eye digital videodata to produce decompressed left eye digital video data anddecompressed right eye digital video data wherein the decompressed lefteye digital video data and/or the decompressed right eye digital videodata have at least one pixel or line resolution of at leastapproximately 352; and displaying alternately on a display device thedecompressed left eye digital video data and the decompressed right eyedigital video data.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the displayingincludes providing a signal for eyewear associated with a stereoscopicdisplay scheme.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the decompressed lefteye digital video data and/or the decompressed right eye digital videodata has at least one pixel or line resolution of at least approximately720.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving receives thecompressed left eye digital video data and the compressed right eyedigital video data from a network interface.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the decompressed left eye digital video data and/or thedecompressed right eye digital video data has a resolution ofapproximately 853 pixel by 486 line.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe decompressed left eye digital video data and/or the decompressedright eye digital video data has a resolution of approximately 1280pixel by 720 line.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the decompressedleft eye digital video data and/or the decompressed right eye digitalvideo data has a color sampling format of 4:2:2.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the decompressed left eye digital video data and/or thedecompressed right eye digital video data has a color sampling format of4:2:0.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the decompressing decompressesthe compressed left eye digital video data and/or the compressed righteye digital video data using information related to block-based motionpredictive coding.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the decompressingdecompresses the compressed left eye digital video data and/or thecompressed right eye digital video data using information related totransform coding.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the decompressingdecompresses the compressed left eye digital video data and/or thecompressed right eye digital video data using information related toblock-based motion predictive coding and transform coding.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the decompressing decompresses the compressedleft eye digital video data and/or the compressed right eye digitalvideo data using a WINDOWS MEDIA™ codec.
 13. The method of claim 1,wherein the decompressing decompresses the compressed left eye digitalvideo data and/or the compressed right eye digital video data using adecompression ratio of at least approximately 1:50.
 14. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the decompressing decompresses the compressed left eyedigital video data and/or the compressed right eye digital video datausing a decompression ratio of at least approximately 1:100.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the decompressing decompresses the compressedleft eye digital video data and/or the compressed right eye digitalvideo data using a decompression ratio of at least approximately 1:200.16. The method of claim 1, wherein the decompressing maintains a PSNR ofat least 30 dB.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayingdisplays video of at least DVD quality.
 18. The method of claim 1,wherein the receiving receives the compressed left eye digital videodata and the compressed right eye digital video data at a data rate ofapproximately 0.5 Mbps to approximately 10 Mbps.
 19. The method of claim1, wherein the displaying displays video having a total runtime of atleast approximately 2 hours.
 20. The method of claim 1, wherein thereceiving receives the compressed left eye digital video data and thecompressed right eye digital video data from a DVD disk.
 21. The methodof claim 1, wherein the receiving receives the compressed left eyedigital data and the compressed right eye digital data in an advancedsystems format.
 22. The method of claim 1, wherein the receivingreceives the compressed left eye digital video data and the compressedright eye digital video data via satellite.
 23. The method of claim 1,wherein the receiving receives the compressed left eye digital videodata and the compressed right eye video data via cable.
 24. The methodof claim 1, wherein the receiving receives the compressed left eyedigital video data and the compressed right eye digital video data in aWINDOWS MEDIA™ format.
 25. The method of claim 1, wherein the receivingreceives the compressed left eye digital video data and the compressedright eye digital video data in two separate data streams.
 26. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the receiving receives the compressed lefteye digital video data and the compressed right eye digital video datafrom two separate files.
 27. The method of claim 1, wherein thereceiving receives the compressed left eye digital video data and thecompressed right eye digital video data in one data stream.
 28. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the receiving receives the compressed lefteye digital video data and the compressed right eye digital video datafrom one file.
 29. The method of claim 1, wherein the decompressingdecompresses the compressed left eye digital video data and thecompressed right eye digital video data using two players.
 30. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the decompressing decompresses the compressedleft eye digital video data and the compressed right eye digital videodata using one player.
 31. The method of claim 1, wherein thedecompressing decompresses the compressed left eye digital video dataand the compressed right eye digital video data using one processor. 32.The method of claim 1, wherein the decompressing decompresses thecompressed left eye digital video data and the compressed right eyedigital video data using at least two processors.
 33. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the receiving receives the compressed left eye digitalvideo data in one stream and receives the right eye digital video datain another stream and wherein the decompressing decompresses thecompressed left eye digital video data using a first player anddecompresses the compressed right eye digital video data using a secondplayer.
 34. The method of claim 33, wherein the first player and thesecond player are synchronized.
 35. The method of claim 1, wherein thereceiving receives the compressed left eye digital video data in onestream and receives the right eye digital video data in another streamand wherein the decompressing decompresses the compressed left eyedigital video data and decompresses the compressed right eye digitalvideo data using one player.
 36. The method of claim 1, wherein thereceiving receives the compressed left eye digital video data from onefile and receives the right eye digital video data from another file andwherein the decompressing decompresses the compressed left eye digitalvideo data using a first player and decompresses the compressed righteye digital video data using a second player.
 37. The method of claim36, wherein the first player and the second player are synchronized. 38.The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving receives the compressedleft eye digital video data from one file and receives the right eyedigital video data from another file and wherein the decompressingdecompresses the compressed left eye digital video data and decompressesthe compressed right eye digital video data using one player.
 39. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the displaying uses two video display cardsfor producing analog signals.
 40. The method of claim 39, wherein thedisplaying uses a multiplexer for multiplexing analog signals from thetwo video display cards.
 41. A computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions to perform requesting compressed lefteye video data and compressed right eye video data; decompressing thecompressed left eye video data and the compressed right eye video datato produce decompressed left eye video data and decompressed right eyevideo data having at least one pixel or line resolution of at least 352;and displaying alternately on a display device the decompressed left eyedigital video data and the decompressed right eye digital video data.42. A method for producing stereoscopic video comprising: receiving lefteye digital video data and right eye digital video data wherein the lefteye digital video data and/or the right eye digital video data have atleast one pixel or line resolution of at least approximately 352;compressing the left eye digital video data and the right eye digitalvideo data to produce compressed left eye digital video data andcompressed right eye digital video data; and transmitting and/or storingthe compressed left eye digital video data and the compressed right eyedigital video data.
 43. The method of claim 42 wherein the displayingincludes providing a signal for eyewear associated with a stereoscopicdisplay scheme.
 44. The method of claim 42, wherein the receivingreceives the left eye digital video data and the right eye digital videodata through a digital serial interface.
 45. The method of claim 44,wherein the digital serial interface has a SMPTE specification.
 46. Themethod of claim 45, wherein the SMPTE specification is SMPTE 292M orSMPTE 259M.
 47. The method of claim 42, wherein the left eye digitalvideo data and/or the right eye digital video data has a resolution of1280 pixel by 720 line.
 48. The method of claim 42, wherein the left eyedigital video data and/or the right eye digital video data has aresolution of 1920 pixel by 1080 line.
 49. The method of claim 42,wherein the left eye digital video data and/or the right eye digitalvideo data has a color sampling format of 4:2:2.
 50. The method of claim42, wherein the left eye digital video data and/or the right eye digitalvideo data has a color sampling format of 4:2:0.
 51. The method of claim42, wherein the receiving receives the left eye digital video dataand/or the right eye digital video data from at least one digitalcamera.
 52. The method of claim 42, wherein the receiving receives theleft eye digital video data and/or the right eye digital video data hasfrom at least one telecine.
 53. The method of claim 42, wherein thereceiving receives the left eye digital video data and/or the right eyedigital video data has from at least one recorder.
 54. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the receiving receives the left eye digital video dataand/or the right eye digital video data has from at least one network.55. The method of claim 42, wherein the compressing compresses the lefteye digital video data and/or the right eye digital video data usingblock-based motion predictive coding to reduce temporal redundancy. 56.The method of claim 42, wherein the compressing compresses the left eyedigital video data and/or the right eye digital video data usingtransform coding to reduce spatial redundancy.
 57. The method of claim42, wherein the compressing compresses the left eye digital video dataand/or the right eye digital video data using block-based motionpredictive coding to reduce temporal redundancy and using transformcoding to reduce spatial redundancy.
 58. The method of claim 42, whereinthe compressing compresses the left eye digital video data and/or theright eye digital video data using information derived from similaritiesbetween the left eye digital video data and the right eye digital videodata.
 59. The method of claim 42, wherein the compressing compresses theright eye digital video data using the left eye digital video dataand/or the compressed left eye digital video data.
 60. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the compressing compresses the left eye digital videodata using the compressed right eye digital video data and/or thecompressed right eye digital video data.
 61. The method of claim 42,wherein the compressing compresses the left eye digital video data andthe left eye digital video data using a WINDOWS MEDIA™ codec.
 62. Themethod of claim 42, wherein the compressing compresses the left eyedigital video data and the right eye digital video data using acompression ratio of at least approximately 50:1.
 63. The method ofclaim 42, wherein the compressing compresses the left eye digital videodata and the right eye digital video data using a compression ratio ofat least approximately 100:1.
 64. The method of claim 42, wherein thecompressing compresses the left eye digital video data and the right eyedigital video data using a compression ratio of at least approximately200:1.
 65. The method of claim 42, wherein the compressing maintains aPSNR of at least 30 dB.
 66. The method of claim 42, wherein thecompressing allows for subsequent decompression and playback of thecompressed left eye digital video and the compressed right eye digitalvideo data.
 67. The method of claim 66, wherein the subsequentdecompression and playback of the compressed left eye digital video dataand the compressed right eye digital video data produces video of atleast DVD) quality.
 68. The method of claim 66, wherein the subsequentdecompression and playback of the compressed left eye digital video dataand the compressed right eye digital video data produces video havingone pixel or line resolution of at least
 352. 69. The method of claim42, wherein the transmitting transmits the compressed left eye digitalvideo data and the compressed right eye digital video data at a datarate of approximately 0.5 Mbps to approximately 10 Mbps.
 70. The methodof claim 42, wherein the transmitting transmits the compressed left eyedigital video data and the compressed right eye digital video data at aplurality of data rates.
 72. The method of claim 70, wherein theplurality of data rates are in a range from approximately 0.1 Mbps toapproximately 20 Mbps.
 73. The method of claim 70, wherein the pluralityof data rates are in a range from approximately 1 Mbps to approximately10 Mbps.
 74. The method of claim 42, wherein the transmitting transmitsand/or the storing stores at least 5 Gb of data.
 75. The method of claim42, wherein the transmitting transmits and/or the storing stores videohaving a total runtime of at least approximately 2 hours.
 76. The methodof claim 42, wherein the transmitting transmits and/or the storingstores the compressed left eye digital video data and the compressedright digital video data to a server.
 77. The method of claim 42,wherein the storing stores the compressed left eye digital video dataand the compressed right eye digital video data on at least one tape.78. The method of claim 42, wherein the storing stores the compressedleft eye digital video data and the compressed right eye digital videodata on at least one disk.
 79. The method of claim 78, wherein the atleast one disk is a DVD disk.
 80. The method of claim 42, wherein thetransmitting transmits and/or the storing stores the compressed left eyedigital video data and the compressed right eye digital video data in anadvanced systems format.
 81. The method of claim 42, wherein thetransmitting transmits the compressed left eye digital video data andthe compressed right eye digital video data to at least one DVDrecorder.
 82. The method of claim 42, wherein the transmitting transmitsthe compressed left eye digital video data and the compressed right eyedigital video data via satellite.
 83. The method of claim 42, whereinthe transmitting transmits the compressed left eye digital video dataand the compressed right eye digital video data via cable.
 84. Themethod of claim 42, wherein the transmitting transmits the compressedleft eye digital video data and the compressed right eye digital videodata via a network.
 85. The method of claim 42, wherein the transmittingtransmits and/or the storing stores the compressed left eye digitalvideo data and the compressed right eye digital video data in a WINDOWSMEDIA™ format.
 86. A computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions to perform requesting left eye digitalvideo data and right eye digital video data wherein the left eye digitalvideo data and the right eye digital video data have at least one pixelor line resolution of at least 352; compressing the left eye video dataand the right eye video data to produce compressed left eye video dataand compressed right eye video data; and transmitting and/or storing thecompressed left eye digital video data and the compressed right eyedigital video data.
 87. A device for producing stereoscopic video datacomprising: a digital serial interface for receiving left eye digitalvideo data and right eye digital video data, wherein the left eyedigital video data and the right eye digital video data have one pixelor line resolution of at least 352; and a processor configured tostructure the left eye digital video data and the right eye digitalvideo data, received via the digital serial interface, in at least onestream format and/or at least one file format suitable for playing on atleast one player to produce a stereoscopic display.
 88. A transportablestorage medium storing at least 5 Gb of compressed stereoscopic digitalvideo data wherein decompression and playback of the compressedstereoscopic digital video data results in DVD quality video having onepixel or line resolution of at least
 352. 89. The transportable storagemedium of claim 88, further comprising compressed audio data.
 90. Thetransportable storage medium of claim 88, wherein the compressedstereoscopic digital video data is generated from stereoscopic digitalvideo data having one pixel or line resolution of at least 720 and theother pixel or line resolution greater than
 576. 91. A device comprisingan encoder configured to encode stereoscopic is digital video datahaving one pixel or line resolution of at least 352 at a rate ofapproximately 0.1 Gbps per GHz of processor speed to produce encodedstereoscopic digital video.
 92. A device comprising a decoder configuredto decode encoded stereoscopic digital video at a rate of 0.4 Gbps perGHz processor speed, wherein the rate is based on a final video displayformat and wherein the final display format has one pixel or lineresolution of at least 352.